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Our team S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences introduces PathGennie (just published in JCIM & JCTC Journals), a fast and unbiased computational framework for uncovering rare molecular events such as drug unbinding and protein folding. Instead of using any biased forces or elevated temperatures, PathGennie launches ultrashort unbiased...

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Suman Chakrabarty

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54,096 views • 8 months ago •via X (Twitter)

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What seemed like an intractable problem is now possible: To design proteins with a specified nonlinear mechanical response, capturing complex folding and unfolding mechanisms in singe and few-shot computations. We present ForceGen, an end-to-end algorithm for de novo protein generation based on nonlinear mechanical unfolding responses. Rooted in the physics of protein mechanics, this generative strategy provides a powerful way to design new proteins rapidly, including exquisite and rapid predictions about their dynamical behavior. Proteins, like any other mechanical object, respond to forces in peculiar ways. Think of the different response you'd get from pulling on a steel cable versus pulling on a rubber band, or the difference between honey and glass. Now, we can design proteins with a set of desirable mechanical characteristics, with applications from health to sustainable plastics. The key to solving this problem was to integrate a protein language model with denoising diffusion methods, and using accurate atomistic-level physical simulation data to endow the model a first-principles understanding. ForceGen can solve both forward and inverse tasks: In the forward task, we can predict how stable a protein is, how it will unfold and what the forces involved are, all given just the sequence of amino acids. In the inverse task, we can design new proteins that meet complex nonlinear mechanical signature targets. Read the paper, led by LAMM@MIT postdoc Bo Ni, published in Science Advances: Why do we care about the mechanics of proteins? The mechanics of proteins are critical elements of many living systems - as evidenced in many studies of mechanobiology. Through evolution, nature has presented a set of remarkable protein materials with unique mechanical functions like elastins, silks, keratins or collagens that play crucial roles in biology. However, going beyond natural designs to discover proteins that meet specified mechanical properties remains challenging. So far, the only way to do this was to use existing evolutionary concepts or to manually alter proteins. With our new generative model we can directly design proteins to meet complex nonlinear mechanical property-design objectives. ForceGen leverages deep knowledge on protein sequences from a pretrained protein language model and maps mechanical unfolding responses to create proteins. Via full-atom molecular simulations for direct validation from physical and chemical principles, we demonstrate that the designed proteins are de novo, and fulfill the targeted mechanical properties, including unfolding energy and mechanical strength, and a detailed unfolding force-separation curves. ForceGen offers rapid pathways to explore the enormous mechanobiological protein sequence space unconstrained by biological synthesis, to enable the discovery of new protein materials with superior mechanical properties. B. Ni, D.L. Kaplan, M.J. Buehler, ForceGen: End-to-end de novo protein generation based on nonlinear mechanical unfolding responses using a language diffusion model. Sci. Adv. 10, eadl4000 (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl4000 Codes and model weights available Hugging Face: David Kaplan
0:33

What seemed like an intractable problem is now possible: To design proteins with a specified nonlinear mechanical response, capturing complex folding and unfolding mechanisms in singe and few-shot computations. We present ForceGen, an end-to-end algorithm for de novo protein generation based on nonlinear mechanical unfolding responses. Rooted in the physics of protein mechanics, this generative strategy provides a powerful way to design new proteins rapidly, including exquisite and rapid predictions about their dynamical behavior. Proteins, like any other mechanical object, respond to forces in peculiar ways. Think of the different response you'd get from pulling on a steel cable versus pulling on a rubber band, or the difference between honey and glass. Now, we can design proteins with a set of desirable mechanical characteristics, with applications from health to sustainable plastics. The key to solving this problem was to integrate a protein language model with denoising diffusion methods, and using accurate atomistic-level physical simulation data to endow the model a first-principles understanding. ForceGen can solve both forward and inverse tasks: In the forward task, we can predict how stable a protein is, how it will unfold and what the forces involved are, all given just the sequence of amino acids. In the inverse task, we can design new proteins that meet complex nonlinear mechanical signature targets. Read the paper, led by LAMM@MIT postdoc Bo Ni, published in Science Advances: Why do we care about the mechanics of proteins? The mechanics of proteins are critical elements of many living systems - as evidenced in many studies of mechanobiology. Through evolution, nature has presented a set of remarkable protein materials with unique mechanical functions like elastins, silks, keratins or collagens that play crucial roles in biology. However, going beyond natural designs to discover proteins that meet specified mechanical properties remains challenging. So far, the only way to do this was to use existing evolutionary concepts or to manually alter proteins. With our new generative model we can directly design proteins to meet complex nonlinear mechanical property-design objectives. ForceGen leverages deep knowledge on protein sequences from a pretrained protein language model and maps mechanical unfolding responses to create proteins. Via full-atom molecular simulations for direct validation from physical and chemical principles, we demonstrate that the designed proteins are de novo, and fulfill the targeted mechanical properties, including unfolding energy and mechanical strength, and a detailed unfolding force-separation curves. ForceGen offers rapid pathways to explore the enormous mechanobiological protein sequence space unconstrained by biological synthesis, to enable the discovery of new protein materials with superior mechanical properties. B. Ni, D.L. Kaplan, M.J. Buehler, ForceGen: End-to-end de novo protein generation based on nonlinear mechanical unfolding responses using a language diffusion model. Sci. Adv. 10, eadl4000 (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adl4000 Codes and model weights available Hugging Face: David Kaplan

Markus J. Buehler

47,242 views • 2 years ago

Exciting update on PantheonOS: Introducing Pantheon-Notebook & Pantheon-CLI — the first fully open-source, Python-based agentic tools that go beyond Claude Code in the field of data analysis. Pantheon-CLI runs entirely on your computer or server, supports 60+ tools and 50+ databases, and can call any Python, R, or Julia package alongside natural language. Chat with your data directly. It look like python-claude-code, but more appreciate for data analysis. Pantheon-Notebook brings the same agentic framework into Jupyter! Not just for writing code, it can also run and revise code automatically to generate the correct result, and even operate on files and study from website — beyond what any other tool can do! With Pantheon, you mix natural language + programming in one workflow, focusing on discovery instead of syntax barriers. We've applied Pantheon in some real-world cases: finance (customer explore), biology (Seurat, cell segmentation, annotation), sociology (survey analysis), and drug discovery (molecular docking). Pantheon is not just a CLI or a plugin — it's an agentic operating system for science, spanning both terminal and notebook. Why not try it now? We are actively preparing publications from this series of projects. Major contributors will be recognized in our GitHub repository and listed as key authors in these manuscripts. Feel free to reach out for collaborations, research assistant positions, visiting opportunities, rotation project or future PhD projects.
1:16

Exciting update on PantheonOS: Introducing Pantheon-Notebook & Pantheon-CLI — the first fully open-source, Python-based agentic tools that go beyond Claude Code in the field of data analysis. Pantheon-CLI runs entirely on your computer or server, supports 60+ tools and 50+ databases, and can call any Python, R, or Julia package alongside natural language. Chat with your data directly. It look like python-claude-code, but more appreciate for data analysis. Pantheon-Notebook brings the same agentic framework into Jupyter! Not just for writing code, it can also run and revise code automatically to generate the correct result, and even operate on files and study from website — beyond what any other tool can do! With Pantheon, you mix natural language + programming in one workflow, focusing on discovery instead of syntax barriers. We've applied Pantheon in some real-world cases: finance (customer explore), biology (Seurat, cell segmentation, annotation), sociology (survey analysis), and drug discovery (molecular docking). Pantheon is not just a CLI or a plugin — it's an agentic operating system for science, spanning both terminal and notebook. Why not try it now? We are actively preparing publications from this series of projects. Major contributors will be recognized in our GitHub repository and listed as key authors in these manuscripts. Feel free to reach out for collaborations, research assistant positions, visiting opportunities, rotation project or future PhD projects.

evo-devo

45,594 views • 10 months ago

We are staring directly at the precipice, yet we’re programmed to look for the wrong sign. Eric Weinstein issues a stark warning: our fixation on the distant specter of AGI is a dangerous distraction. The real, world-altering disruption is already here, moving at lightning speed while we await a singular event. The chess game is over. The new, infinitely more consequential game is Protein Folding. And with AlphaFold 3, we’ve just been checkmated. Think of proteins not as biology, but as the universe's ultimate nano-machinery: copying machines, scissors, shears, engines, lights. All built from a linear code of amino acids that crumples into a 3D object with a function. For decades, predicting that fold from the code was one of science's grandest challenges. AlphaFold has effectively solved it. This isn't a future threat; it's a present reality. This means: • Designer proteins that target specific cells with terrifying precision. • The foundation for true nano-robots. • A complete rewriting of medicine, biology, and materials science. The glow-in-the-dark rabbit isn't a curiosity; it’s a harbinger. We are now holding the code to build anything we can imagine at the molecular level. The power to create—or destroy—is already in our hands. The question is no longer "Will AGI be good or bad?" The question is: Why are you waiting for a future intelligence when a present, alien one is already unfolding? Your expectation of AGI is itself a programmed illusion, a distraction from the profound and immediate revolution happening right now. The great game has begun. And most aren't even watching.
3:19

We are staring directly at the precipice, yet we’re programmed to look for the wrong sign. Eric Weinstein issues a stark warning: our fixation on the distant specter of AGI is a dangerous distraction. The real, world-altering disruption is already here, moving at lightning speed while we await a singular event. The chess game is over. The new, infinitely more consequential game is Protein Folding. And with AlphaFold 3, we’ve just been checkmated. Think of proteins not as biology, but as the universe's ultimate nano-machinery: copying machines, scissors, shears, engines, lights. All built from a linear code of amino acids that crumples into a 3D object with a function. For decades, predicting that fold from the code was one of science's grandest challenges. AlphaFold has effectively solved it. This isn't a future threat; it's a present reality. This means: • Designer proteins that target specific cells with terrifying precision. • The foundation for true nano-robots. • A complete rewriting of medicine, biology, and materials science. The glow-in-the-dark rabbit isn't a curiosity; it’s a harbinger. We are now holding the code to build anything we can imagine at the molecular level. The power to create—or destroy—is already in our hands. The question is no longer "Will AGI be good or bad?" The question is: Why are you waiting for a future intelligence when a present, alien one is already unfolding? Your expectation of AGI is itself a programmed illusion, a distraction from the profound and immediate revolution happening right now. The great game has begun. And most aren't even watching.

Camus

36,815 views • 10 months ago

Fellow Nigerians and friends from around the world, good day to you all. Trust deficits between the governed and those who govern have long shaped our national story. Overcoming this requires public administrators across all tiers and branches of government Government of Nigeria to embrace accountability and transparency in managing the commonwealth of our people. In line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu Renewed Hope Agenda, we have begun the deliberate and necessary work of institutionalizing this approach in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Federal Ministry of Health, NIGERIA and in the agencies under our oversight. I am pleased to inform Nigerians that our ministry and its parastatals have entered into a multi-year pact with the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission ICPC to monitor, track, and audit expenditures involved in the nationwide overhaul of health infrastructure across all local government areas of the federation. In the medical profession, prevention is better than cure. This principle applies equally to our new approach to addressing official corruption and financial misconduct in the health sector. The primary objective of this pact with the ICPC is to institute preventive and corrective anti-corruption mechanisms, with particular emphasis on close surveillance of health parastatals and funding pathways under the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which serves as a federal conduit to subnational entities responsible for the judicious use of resources. As part of this partnership, state and local governments will be integrated into strengthened accountability processes to ensure standardized anti-corruption measures nationwide. More specifically, the ICPC is mandated to report on the status of projects identified by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency NPHCDA as a prerequisite for final certification of project completion. In real time, the ICPC will provide stage-by-stage monitoring of primary healthcare revitalization projects across all implementing states and local government areas to ensure value for money. Additionally, our pact with the ICPC introduces a new certification process for anti-corruption training and capacity-building initiatives to support health sector staff in preventing and addressing corrupt practices within their mandates. While these historic steps offer a sustainable template for fiscal prudence in the sector, we are simultaneously advancing a multi-dimensional strategy to confront the threat corruption poses to the health of every Nigerian. We recognize the critical role of our youth in driving reforms at the community level. This recognition led to the recruitment and deployment of hundreds of Performance and Financial Management Officers (#PFMOs) across all local government areas to continuously assess primary health centre rehabilitation and operational performance. This initiative complements President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commissioning of the National Health Fellows—774 young leaders from every local government area—selected through a rigorous process and prepared to sustain the new anti-corruption procedures aligned with their technical and administrative responsibilities. This fight against long-standing development inhibitors in the health sector is essential not only for improving the lives of Nigerians but also for enhancing donor confidence, with direct implications for non-governmental and multilateral financial support for key health interventions for our nation. This is our time to reclaim the nation we love, to reject what has held us back, and to affirm a new social contract grounded in integrity, renewed trust, and renewed hope. Thank you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
5:06

Fellow Nigerians and friends from around the world, good day to you all. Trust deficits between the governed and those who govern have long shaped our national story. Overcoming this requires public administrators across all tiers and branches of government Government of Nigeria to embrace accountability and transparency in managing the commonwealth of our people. In line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu Renewed Hope Agenda, we have begun the deliberate and necessary work of institutionalizing this approach in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Federal Ministry of Health, NIGERIA and in the agencies under our oversight. I am pleased to inform Nigerians that our ministry and its parastatals have entered into a multi-year pact with the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission ICPC to monitor, track, and audit expenditures involved in the nationwide overhaul of health infrastructure across all local government areas of the federation. In the medical profession, prevention is better than cure. This principle applies equally to our new approach to addressing official corruption and financial misconduct in the health sector. The primary objective of this pact with the ICPC is to institute preventive and corrective anti-corruption mechanisms, with particular emphasis on close surveillance of health parastatals and funding pathways under the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund Basic Health Care Provision Fund, which serves as a federal conduit to subnational entities responsible for the judicious use of resources. As part of this partnership, state and local governments will be integrated into strengthened accountability processes to ensure standardized anti-corruption measures nationwide. More specifically, the ICPC is mandated to report on the status of projects identified by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency NPHCDA as a prerequisite for final certification of project completion. In real time, the ICPC will provide stage-by-stage monitoring of primary healthcare revitalization projects across all implementing states and local government areas to ensure value for money. Additionally, our pact with the ICPC introduces a new certification process for anti-corruption training and capacity-building initiatives to support health sector staff in preventing and addressing corrupt practices within their mandates. While these historic steps offer a sustainable template for fiscal prudence in the sector, we are simultaneously advancing a multi-dimensional strategy to confront the threat corruption poses to the health of every Nigerian. We recognize the critical role of our youth in driving reforms at the community level. This recognition led to the recruitment and deployment of hundreds of Performance and Financial Management Officers (#PFMOs) across all local government areas to continuously assess primary health centre rehabilitation and operational performance. This initiative complements President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commissioning of the National Health Fellows—774 young leaders from every local government area—selected through a rigorous process and prepared to sustain the new anti-corruption procedures aligned with their technical and administrative responsibilities. This fight against long-standing development inhibitors in the health sector is essential not only for improving the lives of Nigerians but also for enhancing donor confidence, with direct implications for non-governmental and multilateral financial support for key health interventions for our nation. This is our time to reclaim the nation we love, to reject what has held us back, and to affirm a new social contract grounded in integrity, renewed trust, and renewed hope. Thank you, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Muhammad Ali Pate

81,515 views • 8 months ago

Today, we’re announcing the first major discovery made by our AI Scientist with the lab in the loop: a promising new treatment for dry AMD, a major cause of blindness. Our agents generated the hypotheses, designed the experiments, analyzed the data, iterated, even made figures for the paper. The resulting manuscript is a first-of-a-kind in the natural sciences, in which everything that needed to be done to write the paper was done by AI agents, apart from actually conducting the physical experiments in the lab and writing the final manuscript. We are also introducing Robin, the first multi-agent system that fully automates the in-silico components of scientific discovery, which made this discovery. This is the first time that we are aware of that hypothesis generation, experimentation, and data analysis have been joined up in closed loop, and is the beginning of a massive acceleration in the pace of scientific discovery that will be driven by these agents. We will be open-sourcing the code and data next week. Robin is a multi-agent system that uses Crow, Falcon, and Finch, the agents on our platform, to generate novel hypotheses, plan experiments, and analyze data. We asked Robin to find a new treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration. Robin considered the disease mechanisms associated with dry AMD, proposed a specific experimental assay that could be used to evaluate hypotheses in the wet lab, and proposed specific molecules we could test in that assay. We tested the molecules and gave it the resulting data, which it analyzed before proposing more experiments. In the end, it identified Ripasudil, a Rho Kinase inhibitor (ROCK inhibitor) that is approved in Japan for several other diseases, which seems very promising as potential treatment for dry AMD. It also identified specific molecular mechanisms that might underlie the effects of Ripasudil in RPE cells, from an RNA sequencing experiment it proposed. To be clear, no one has proposed using ROCK inhibitors to treat dry AMD in the literature before, as far as we can find, and I think it would have been very difficult for us to come up with this hypothesis without the agents. We have also run the proposed treatment by several experts in AMD, who confirm that it is interesting and novel. Moreover, this project was fast: with Robin in hand, the entire project took about 10 weeks, which is way shorter than it would have taken if we had been doing all of the in-silico components ourselves. Important caveats: We are real biologists at FutureHouse, so I want to be clear that although the discovery here is exciting, we are not claiming that we have cured dry AMD. Fully validating this hypothesis as a treatment for dry AMD will take human trials, which will take much longer. Also, this discovery is cool, but it is not yet a "move 37"-style discovery. At the current rate of progress, I'm sure we will get to that level soon. Congratulations to the team. Congratulations in particular to Robin, which generated the hypotheses, proposed the experiments, analyzed the data and generated the figures. And major congratulations also to the human team, which built Robin: Michaela Hinks, Ali Ghareeb, Benjamin Chang, Ludovico Mitchener, Mo Razzak, Kiki Szostkiewicz, and Angela Yiu.
5:57

Today, we’re announcing the first major discovery made by our AI Scientist with the lab in the loop: a promising new treatment for dry AMD, a major cause of blindness. Our agents generated the hypotheses, designed the experiments, analyzed the data, iterated, even made figures for the paper. The resulting manuscript is a first-of-a-kind in the natural sciences, in which everything that needed to be done to write the paper was done by AI agents, apart from actually conducting the physical experiments in the lab and writing the final manuscript. We are also introducing Robin, the first multi-agent system that fully automates the in-silico components of scientific discovery, which made this discovery. This is the first time that we are aware of that hypothesis generation, experimentation, and data analysis have been joined up in closed loop, and is the beginning of a massive acceleration in the pace of scientific discovery that will be driven by these agents. We will be open-sourcing the code and data next week. Robin is a multi-agent system that uses Crow, Falcon, and Finch, the agents on our platform, to generate novel hypotheses, plan experiments, and analyze data. We asked Robin to find a new treatment for dry age-related macular degeneration. Robin considered the disease mechanisms associated with dry AMD, proposed a specific experimental assay that could be used to evaluate hypotheses in the wet lab, and proposed specific molecules we could test in that assay. We tested the molecules and gave it the resulting data, which it analyzed before proposing more experiments. In the end, it identified Ripasudil, a Rho Kinase inhibitor (ROCK inhibitor) that is approved in Japan for several other diseases, which seems very promising as potential treatment for dry AMD. It also identified specific molecular mechanisms that might underlie the effects of Ripasudil in RPE cells, from an RNA sequencing experiment it proposed. To be clear, no one has proposed using ROCK inhibitors to treat dry AMD in the literature before, as far as we can find, and I think it would have been very difficult for us to come up with this hypothesis without the agents. We have also run the proposed treatment by several experts in AMD, who confirm that it is interesting and novel. Moreover, this project was fast: with Robin in hand, the entire project took about 10 weeks, which is way shorter than it would have taken if we had been doing all of the in-silico components ourselves. Important caveats: We are real biologists at FutureHouse, so I want to be clear that although the discovery here is exciting, we are not claiming that we have cured dry AMD. Fully validating this hypothesis as a treatment for dry AMD will take human trials, which will take much longer. Also, this discovery is cool, but it is not yet a "move 37"-style discovery. At the current rate of progress, I'm sure we will get to that level soon. Congratulations to the team. Congratulations in particular to Robin, which generated the hypotheses, proposed the experiments, analyzed the data and generated the figures. And major congratulations also to the human team, which built Robin: Michaela Hinks, Ali Ghareeb, Benjamin Chang, Ludovico Mitchener, Mo Razzak, Kiki Szostkiewicz, and Angela Yiu.

Sam Rodriques

1,106,937 views • 1 year ago

My speech at the #MEGA event in the European Parliament, Brussels: Change will not come if we wait for someone else, or if we delay for another time. The words of Barack Obama, spoken during his historic campaign in 2008, still resonate—but today, they carry a very different meaning. It is a rallying cry for patriots, conservatives, and all who believe in freedom, sovereignty, and the dignity of our nations to stand together. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. In 2008, Obama’s words signaled the dawn of a new era: one marked by social justice campaigns and the rise of "wokeism." For years, these ideas were cloaked in promises of progress and inclusivity. But what have they truly delivered? Today, we see the devastating consequences—fractured societies, eroded national identities, and an alarming loss of freedoms. But, the tide is turning. The reelection of President Trump has sent a clear and powerful message from the people of the United States. The message is simple: We want our country back. We want to be proud of our flag, our culture, and our heritage. We demand affordable, reliable energy to power our homes and businesses. We seek real food from our farmers, not synthetic substitutes dictated by unelected technocrats. We want secured borders, prosperity, peace, and the ability to pursue happiness without interference. The overwhelming #MAGA victory—President Trump reclaiming the presidency, the Senate, the House, and the popular vote—reflects a mandate that is impossible to ignore. For too long, the radical left has sought to dismantle the pillars of our civilization. Obama’s policies, often presented as ‘progress’, initiated a chain of events with devastating effects. I’ll give you four examples: 1. The Arab Spring, spurred by social media campaigns, unleashed waves of instability that flooded Europe with millions of migrants. Our historic continent—once a beacon of cultural and intellectual achievements—is now grappling with security threats and the erosion of its identity and culture. 2. The war in Ukraine, provoked by Obama’s NeoCon allies, has brought untold suffering. It began with the removal of Ukraine’s democratically elected leader in 2014, setting the stage for conflict. These NeoCons, in collusion with the Military-Industrial Complex, are as culpable as any aggressor. 3. Critical Race Theory, a twisted ideology. It is nothing short of racism repackaged, weaponized to pit communities against each other. 4. Censorship and suppression of free speech. Through NGOs and the so-called "Censorship Industrial Complex," they controlled narratives and silenced dissenting voices. Their strategy has always been sophisticated—using fear, globalist policies, the illusion of moral superiority, and ‘democracy’ of institutions instead of democracy of the people. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (#SDG's), the #GreenDeal, and the #WHO’s pandemic overreach are all symptoms of a broader agenda: a transfer of power from the people to unaccountable elites. Even #NATO, once a coalition of nations united against foreign aggression, has now also become a tool wielded to suppress populist movements among its own people. But we are not powerless. WE THE PEOPLE represent true democracy. If we unite, we can reverse this destructive course. The momentum of the MAGA movement can inspire change across Europe and beyond. Now is the time to build a unified front that transcends party lines and minor disagreements. So, how do we Make Europe Great Again by: 1. Restoring Free Speech: Reverse the Digital Services Act and protect public discourse. 2. Ensuring Freedom: No Central Bank Digital Currencies. No digital IDs. We are born free and do not need technocratic controls. 3. Dismantling the Green Deal: End this social engineering project that sacrifices our economies and energy and food security for an illusion of environmental progress. 4. Defending Our Borders: Protect our nations from uncontrolled migration that threatens both safety and cultural heritage. National civil rights must take precedence over globalist human rights. 5. Exposing Corruption: Demand full transparency in dealings with corporations and NGOs. 6. Deregulating Economies: Empower small and medium-sized businesses—the backbone of our prosperity. Deregulation fuels innovation and competitiveness. 7. Restoring National Sovereignty: Renegotiate or cancel harmful international agreements and treaties. Change will not come if we wait for someone else or another time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Obama’s words, once a banner for radical policies, now serve as a call to reverse the damage inflicted on our nations and it’s people. Let us unite, work together, and make this a reality. Let us Make Europe Great Again. #MEGA
6:49

My speech at the #MEGA event in the European Parliament, Brussels: Change will not come if we wait for someone else, or if we delay for another time. The words of Barack Obama, spoken during his historic campaign in 2008, still resonate—but today, they carry a very different meaning. It is a rallying cry for patriots, conservatives, and all who believe in freedom, sovereignty, and the dignity of our nations to stand together. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. In 2008, Obama’s words signaled the dawn of a new era: one marked by social justice campaigns and the rise of "wokeism." For years, these ideas were cloaked in promises of progress and inclusivity. But what have they truly delivered? Today, we see the devastating consequences—fractured societies, eroded national identities, and an alarming loss of freedoms. But, the tide is turning. The reelection of President Trump has sent a clear and powerful message from the people of the United States. The message is simple: We want our country back. We want to be proud of our flag, our culture, and our heritage. We demand affordable, reliable energy to power our homes and businesses. We seek real food from our farmers, not synthetic substitutes dictated by unelected technocrats. We want secured borders, prosperity, peace, and the ability to pursue happiness without interference. The overwhelming #MAGA victory—President Trump reclaiming the presidency, the Senate, the House, and the popular vote—reflects a mandate that is impossible to ignore. For too long, the radical left has sought to dismantle the pillars of our civilization. Obama’s policies, often presented as ‘progress’, initiated a chain of events with devastating effects. I’ll give you four examples: 1. The Arab Spring, spurred by social media campaigns, unleashed waves of instability that flooded Europe with millions of migrants. Our historic continent—once a beacon of cultural and intellectual achievements—is now grappling with security threats and the erosion of its identity and culture. 2. The war in Ukraine, provoked by Obama’s NeoCon allies, has brought untold suffering. It began with the removal of Ukraine’s democratically elected leader in 2014, setting the stage for conflict. These NeoCons, in collusion with the Military-Industrial Complex, are as culpable as any aggressor. 3. Critical Race Theory, a twisted ideology. It is nothing short of racism repackaged, weaponized to pit communities against each other. 4. Censorship and suppression of free speech. Through NGOs and the so-called "Censorship Industrial Complex," they controlled narratives and silenced dissenting voices. Their strategy has always been sophisticated—using fear, globalist policies, the illusion of moral superiority, and ‘democracy’ of institutions instead of democracy of the people. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (#SDG's), the #GreenDeal, and the #WHO’s pandemic overreach are all symptoms of a broader agenda: a transfer of power from the people to unaccountable elites. Even #NATO, once a coalition of nations united against foreign aggression, has now also become a tool wielded to suppress populist movements among its own people. But we are not powerless. WE THE PEOPLE represent true democracy. If we unite, we can reverse this destructive course. The momentum of the MAGA movement can inspire change across Europe and beyond. Now is the time to build a unified front that transcends party lines and minor disagreements. So, how do we Make Europe Great Again by: 1. Restoring Free Speech: Reverse the Digital Services Act and protect public discourse. 2. Ensuring Freedom: No Central Bank Digital Currencies. No digital IDs. We are born free and do not need technocratic controls. 3. Dismantling the Green Deal: End this social engineering project that sacrifices our economies and energy and food security for an illusion of environmental progress. 4. Defending Our Borders: Protect our nations from uncontrolled migration that threatens both safety and cultural heritage. National civil rights must take precedence over globalist human rights. 5. Exposing Corruption: Demand full transparency in dealings with corporations and NGOs. 6. Deregulating Economies: Empower small and medium-sized businesses—the backbone of our prosperity. Deregulation fuels innovation and competitiveness. 7. Restoring National Sovereignty: Renegotiate or cancel harmful international agreements and treaties. Change will not come if we wait for someone else or another time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Obama’s words, once a banner for radical policies, now serve as a call to reverse the damage inflicted on our nations and it’s people. Let us unite, work together, and make this a reality. Let us Make Europe Great Again. #MEGA

Rob Roos 🇳🇱

16,899 views • 1 year ago

After regrouping with our investors and the team, I’ve made the difficult decision to wind down Hike completely. Our US business, launched just nine months ago, is off to a strong start. But scaling globally would require a full recap, a reset that is not the best use of capital or time. The Big Question → We could raise the capital, but the real question is: is it worth it? Is this a climb worth pivoting for? For the first time in 13 years, my answer is no. Not for me, not for my team, and not for our investors. Why? 1. RMG was never the destination. It was a way to test unit economics and traction in India while working toward a bigger vision. In hindsight, starting in India locked us into the model and regulatory headwinds, turning a temporary path into a more permanent one. 2. The Gaming Nation vision is real, but we may be too early. The world will eventually move toward a Nation-type model in gaming and Web3 - Company 2.0. But crypto regulation is still developing globally, and we don’t want to repeat India, where we hoped for clarity that never came. 3. And most importantly, if doing a full reset, is this where I’d put my own capital and energy today? For the first time, the answer is no. The world has changed in the last decade - and so have I. There are more important problems to solve and bigger opportunities to deploy brilliant talent and capital. Looking Back & Lessons The last 13 years have been immense. Hike Messenger reached 40M MAUs and became the 35th most loved consumer brand in India at its peak. With Rush, we built a brand new kind of Casual PvP gaming platform and scaled it to 10M users and $500M+ in gross revenue in just 4 years. Our execution was super, but we could never quite make it stick. There are clear lessons to carry forward, especially on market selection: 1. Be careful with winner-take-all markets. To win, you need to go global. 2. Don’t build for today’s tech constraints. Build on the spring/summer of new technologies. 3. Regulatory clarity matters. Risk is fine; uncertainty is not. More importantly momentum is everything. And build what your heart and mind are deeply excited about. It’s the conviction that carries you through. This is both a disappointment and a hard outcome. But I choose to look on the bright side: the learnings are invaluable, and my conviction for what’s next is even stronger. To everyone who has been part of this journey - our users, our team, our investors, and our community - thank you. As a CEO, you’re only as strong as your team, and I want to give a special shout-out to mine - an incredible group of people who gave this everything. Hike This chapter ends, but the climb continues. Looking Forward I’ve always thrived at building at the forefront of technology. Over the last decade, in the little time I had to explore outside of Hike, I kept returning to the same three frontiers. And now, they feel like the great canvases for decades to come → 1. AI → For the first time, technology has both intelligence and memory. Imagine products that don’t just serve us functionally but truly know us - systems that adapt, grow, and partner with us. As a UX-first builder, this is the most exciting time to be building software. 2. Breakthroughs in Energy → Human progress has always been bound by energy. The world’s demand for energy is rising faster than ever. Breakthrough approaches, especially in physics are needed to power the future. The last century gave us mastery of fine matters and electricity, the next will move deeper, at the intersection of science and spirituality - into what yogis call divine magnetism and physicists call the quantum world or electromagnetism. From there will come technologies that today feel impossible to imagine. 3. Mastery of the Self → As AI takes on more of our work, a deeper question will rise: what now defines us? When productivity is no longer the measure of worth, humanity will turn inward. Man’s evolution will move from the intellect to intuitive attunement - a deeper connection with ourselves and the divine (which we’ll realise are one and the same). The tools, spaces, and guides that help us explore this inner world will be as transformative as any innovation in the outer one - unlocking the next level of humanity’s potential. If you put these together, a picture emerges: → the cost of intelligence trending to zero → the cost of energy trending to zero → and the cost of willpower falling lower and lower. Just imagine a future where willpower is infinite, energy is abundant, and intelligence is at our fingertips. This is the future I will help build — and it’s where I’ll be contributing in the decades to come. This new chapter will look very different from the last one 🚀 Video for perspective. Full substack post link below.
0:40

After regrouping with our investors and the team, I’ve made the difficult decision to wind down Hike completely. Our US business, launched just nine months ago, is off to a strong start. But scaling globally would require a full recap, a reset that is not the best use of capital or time. The Big Question → We could raise the capital, but the real question is: is it worth it? Is this a climb worth pivoting for? For the first time in 13 years, my answer is no. Not for me, not for my team, and not for our investors. Why? 1. RMG was never the destination. It was a way to test unit economics and traction in India while working toward a bigger vision. In hindsight, starting in India locked us into the model and regulatory headwinds, turning a temporary path into a more permanent one. 2. The Gaming Nation vision is real, but we may be too early. The world will eventually move toward a Nation-type model in gaming and Web3 - Company 2.0. But crypto regulation is still developing globally, and we don’t want to repeat India, where we hoped for clarity that never came. 3. And most importantly, if doing a full reset, is this where I’d put my own capital and energy today? For the first time, the answer is no. The world has changed in the last decade - and so have I. There are more important problems to solve and bigger opportunities to deploy brilliant talent and capital. Looking Back & Lessons The last 13 years have been immense. Hike Messenger reached 40M MAUs and became the 35th most loved consumer brand in India at its peak. With Rush, we built a brand new kind of Casual PvP gaming platform and scaled it to 10M users and $500M+ in gross revenue in just 4 years. Our execution was super, but we could never quite make it stick. There are clear lessons to carry forward, especially on market selection: 1. Be careful with winner-take-all markets. To win, you need to go global. 2. Don’t build for today’s tech constraints. Build on the spring/summer of new technologies. 3. Regulatory clarity matters. Risk is fine; uncertainty is not. More importantly momentum is everything. And build what your heart and mind are deeply excited about. It’s the conviction that carries you through. This is both a disappointment and a hard outcome. But I choose to look on the bright side: the learnings are invaluable, and my conviction for what’s next is even stronger. To everyone who has been part of this journey - our users, our team, our investors, and our community - thank you. As a CEO, you’re only as strong as your team, and I want to give a special shout-out to mine - an incredible group of people who gave this everything. Hike This chapter ends, but the climb continues. Looking Forward I’ve always thrived at building at the forefront of technology. Over the last decade, in the little time I had to explore outside of Hike, I kept returning to the same three frontiers. And now, they feel like the great canvases for decades to come → 1. AI → For the first time, technology has both intelligence and memory. Imagine products that don’t just serve us functionally but truly know us - systems that adapt, grow, and partner with us. As a UX-first builder, this is the most exciting time to be building software. 2. Breakthroughs in Energy → Human progress has always been bound by energy. The world’s demand for energy is rising faster than ever. Breakthrough approaches, especially in physics are needed to power the future. The last century gave us mastery of fine matters and electricity, the next will move deeper, at the intersection of science and spirituality - into what yogis call divine magnetism and physicists call the quantum world or electromagnetism. From there will come technologies that today feel impossible to imagine. 3. Mastery of the Self → As AI takes on more of our work, a deeper question will rise: what now defines us? When productivity is no longer the measure of worth, humanity will turn inward. Man’s evolution will move from the intellect to intuitive attunement - a deeper connection with ourselves and the divine (which we’ll realise are one and the same). The tools, spaces, and guides that help us explore this inner world will be as transformative as any innovation in the outer one - unlocking the next level of humanity’s potential. If you put these together, a picture emerges: → the cost of intelligence trending to zero → the cost of energy trending to zero → and the cost of willpower falling lower and lower. Just imagine a future where willpower is infinite, energy is abundant, and intelligence is at our fingertips. This is the future I will help build — and it’s where I’ll be contributing in the decades to come. This new chapter will look very different from the last one 🚀 Video for perspective. Full substack post link below.

Kavin

24,411 views • 10 months ago

ANNOUNCEMENT: WE’RE SAVING SCIENCE! We’re often told that science is “self-correcting.” But that’s not really true. Science doesn’t correct itself like a thermostat adjusting the temperature in your house. Science is a human institution run by human beings. And human beings are vulnerable to career incentives, groupthink, moral fads, political pressure, and fear. And when those forces capture academic journals, peer review stops being a filter for bad ideas and starts becoming more of a credentialing system for fashionable nonsense. This isn’t exactly new. In 1996, the physicist Alan Sokal managed to publish a totally gibberish article in the journal Social Text full of trendy postmodern jargon. His point was simple: if you flatter the ideological commitments of certain academic editors, nonsense can pass as real scholarship. Two decades later, James Lindsay, anti-Communist, @HPluckrose , and Peter Boghossian pulled off the “grievance studies” hoax, placing over a half dozen absurd papers in peer-reviewed journals. One paper used dog parks to analyze rape culture and queer performativity. Another rewrote parts of Mein Kampf in the language of feminist theory. The problem wasn’t just that fake papers got published. It was that they were completely indistinguishable from the real thing. And today, the problem is even worse. We now have serious SCIENCE journals publishing papers about feminist lesbians marrying brine shrimp. We have disturbing papers that aim to “queer” and sexualize infants. We have scholarship on “lesbian-queer-trans-canine relationalities” and “trans-dog intimacies.” But while Clown World papers are concerning because it makes a complete mockery of academia, the same broken, ideologically captured system is also publishing research in legitimate science and medical journals that pushes sex and gender pseudoscience, relies on deeply flawed data, and influences policies on the medical transition of children and young adults. That’s not funny. That affects real people. It affects medicine. It affects law. It affects children. And when critics try to respond, they often discover there’s no serious mechanism for correction. Submitted Letters to the Editor often go completely ignored. Contrary evidence is rejected without comment. As a result, the best critiques are often relegated to personal blog posts, social media threads, or newspaper op-eds, while the original paper remains in the literature wearing the armor of “peer review.” That is untenable. So Kevin McCaffree, editor-in-chief of Theory and Society (Theory and Society (Springer Nature)), and I decided to do something about it. Today, in the Wall Street Journal, we announced a first-of-its-kind article type called “Peer Review.” The idea is simple: publication should be the beginning of academic scrutiny, not the end of it. A Peer Review article can critique a paper from any scholarly journal. It can address problems with methods, evidence, logic, definitions, theory, or interpretation. But it has to focus on the claims and arguments, not personal attacks. Submissions are capped at 2,500 words and go through a straightforward merit review instead of endless gatekeeping and ideological screening. We ask just one basic question: Is this critique coherent, serious, reasonable, or even popular enough to deserve scholarly attention? If yes, it gets published. And the authors of the original paper get a built-in right of reply, so readers can see the critique and the response in a legitimate academic venue. That’s how science is supposed to work. Science becomes self-correcting only when real people build the mechanisms that allow correction to happen. That’s what we’ve done. Now it’s time for academics to use it. Read our announcement on the The Wall Street Journal below. 🔗
4:17

ANNOUNCEMENT: WE’RE SAVING SCIENCE! We’re often told that science is “self-correcting.” But that’s not really true. Science doesn’t correct itself like a thermostat adjusting the temperature in your house. Science is a human institution run by human beings. And human beings are vulnerable to career incentives, groupthink, moral fads, political pressure, and fear. And when those forces capture academic journals, peer review stops being a filter for bad ideas and starts becoming more of a credentialing system for fashionable nonsense. This isn’t exactly new. In 1996, the physicist Alan Sokal managed to publish a totally gibberish article in the journal Social Text full of trendy postmodern jargon. His point was simple: if you flatter the ideological commitments of certain academic editors, nonsense can pass as real scholarship. Two decades later, James Lindsay, anti-Communist, @HPluckrose , and Peter Boghossian pulled off the “grievance studies” hoax, placing over a half dozen absurd papers in peer-reviewed journals. One paper used dog parks to analyze rape culture and queer performativity. Another rewrote parts of Mein Kampf in the language of feminist theory. The problem wasn’t just that fake papers got published. It was that they were completely indistinguishable from the real thing. And today, the problem is even worse. We now have serious SCIENCE journals publishing papers about feminist lesbians marrying brine shrimp. We have disturbing papers that aim to “queer” and sexualize infants. We have scholarship on “lesbian-queer-trans-canine relationalities” and “trans-dog intimacies.” But while Clown World papers are concerning because it makes a complete mockery of academia, the same broken, ideologically captured system is also publishing research in legitimate science and medical journals that pushes sex and gender pseudoscience, relies on deeply flawed data, and influences policies on the medical transition of children and young adults. That’s not funny. That affects real people. It affects medicine. It affects law. It affects children. And when critics try to respond, they often discover there’s no serious mechanism for correction. Submitted Letters to the Editor often go completely ignored. Contrary evidence is rejected without comment. As a result, the best critiques are often relegated to personal blog posts, social media threads, or newspaper op-eds, while the original paper remains in the literature wearing the armor of “peer review.” That is untenable. So Kevin McCaffree, editor-in-chief of Theory and Society (Theory and Society (Springer Nature)), and I decided to do something about it. Today, in the Wall Street Journal, we announced a first-of-its-kind article type called “Peer Review.” The idea is simple: publication should be the beginning of academic scrutiny, not the end of it. A Peer Review article can critique a paper from any scholarly journal. It can address problems with methods, evidence, logic, definitions, theory, or interpretation. But it has to focus on the claims and arguments, not personal attacks. Submissions are capped at 2,500 words and go through a straightforward merit review instead of endless gatekeeping and ideological screening. We ask just one basic question: Is this critique coherent, serious, reasonable, or even popular enough to deserve scholarly attention? If yes, it gets published. And the authors of the original paper get a built-in right of reply, so readers can see the critique and the response in a legitimate academic venue. That’s how science is supposed to work. Science becomes self-correcting only when real people build the mechanisms that allow correction to happen. That’s what we’ve done. Now it’s time for academics to use it. Read our announcement on the The Wall Street Journal below. 🔗

Colin Wright

1,000,242 views • 1 month ago

Padawans! We are excited to announce the return of Jediswap with concentrated liquidity, full audits, points, and incentives. Check it out at Since our last update two months ago, we have been working hard on a fresh new version of Jediswap, focused on bringing capital efficiency and the best price execution to our users. After two months of dedicated efforts, a full audit by Nethermind Starknet , and passing rigorous security tests, we are excited to announce the launch of Jediswap v2. Jediswap v2 significantly enhances user experience and performance while introducing new features and surprises. Our commitment to community and user growth remains strong, and we have exciting plans to expand the Jediswap ecosystem. Take a look at key updates coming with the launch. A points system that empowers genuine, loyal users: Jediswap's origins go back to early 2020 when we started our journey not as a product but as a community known as the Mesh community. Our mission was clear: bring Open Finance to billions of people. Recognising the strength of community-driven efforts, we understood that collective belief and collaboration, rather than individual or corporate endeavours, would be the most effective path forward. Early loyal users are the most crucial pillars of any community and product. This point system is Jediswap’s first step in recognising and rewarding the value each user has added to the protocol. We have prepared separate point systems for liquidity providers and traders. In short, as an LP, you can maximise your points by earning more fees on your LP positions and maintaining your liquidity in Jediswap over the long term. You can check out the complete math behind points here. For traders, use Jediswap when you genuinely need to swap tokens. There is no need to do any wash trading. We have published the points system for Jediswap v2 and will soon release points for all the activity that has occurred on Jediswap v1 to date with a boost. Check out the points logic on our docs: Improved performance and user experience: We have significantly enhanced Jediswap's performance, making it faster and more user-friendly. One notable improvement is the integration of pool analytics directly within the Pool page, eliminating the need for users to navigate to a separate analytics page. Additionally, balance fetching has been optimised for smoother operation. Any liquidity added to pools now updates the My Positions page in real-time. Battle-tested security For this launch, we implemented several security measures. We underwent a rigorous 7-week audit process with Nethermind. With the help of the Nethermind team, we also created a test framework for Jediswap to compare security against Uniswap v3, which has been operational for 3+ years and is one of the most battle-tested smart contracts available. We simulated real data from different Uniswap v3 pools on Jediswap. We achieved a 100% match in the contract state after each on-chain action, such as swaps and liquidity adjustments, bolstering our confidence in our code's security. We will announce many cool things over the next few weeks. Keep an out JediSwap ;) Mint a Galxe NFT: To commemorate this launch, we have published a new campaign on Galxe, which rewards users with an NFT for being an early user of Jediswap v2. To earn the Galxe NFT, add at least $25 worth of liquidity to one of the pools listed in the Galxe quest.
0:22

Padawans! We are excited to announce the return of Jediswap with concentrated liquidity, full audits, points, and incentives. Check it out at Since our last update two months ago, we have been working hard on a fresh new version of Jediswap, focused on bringing capital efficiency and the best price execution to our users. After two months of dedicated efforts, a full audit by Nethermind Starknet , and passing rigorous security tests, we are excited to announce the launch of Jediswap v2. Jediswap v2 significantly enhances user experience and performance while introducing new features and surprises. Our commitment to community and user growth remains strong, and we have exciting plans to expand the Jediswap ecosystem. Take a look at key updates coming with the launch. A points system that empowers genuine, loyal users: Jediswap's origins go back to early 2020 when we started our journey not as a product but as a community known as the Mesh community. Our mission was clear: bring Open Finance to billions of people. Recognising the strength of community-driven efforts, we understood that collective belief and collaboration, rather than individual or corporate endeavours, would be the most effective path forward. Early loyal users are the most crucial pillars of any community and product. This point system is Jediswap’s first step in recognising and rewarding the value each user has added to the protocol. We have prepared separate point systems for liquidity providers and traders. In short, as an LP, you can maximise your points by earning more fees on your LP positions and maintaining your liquidity in Jediswap over the long term. You can check out the complete math behind points here. For traders, use Jediswap when you genuinely need to swap tokens. There is no need to do any wash trading. We have published the points system for Jediswap v2 and will soon release points for all the activity that has occurred on Jediswap v1 to date with a boost. Check out the points logic on our docs: Improved performance and user experience: We have significantly enhanced Jediswap's performance, making it faster and more user-friendly. One notable improvement is the integration of pool analytics directly within the Pool page, eliminating the need for users to navigate to a separate analytics page. Additionally, balance fetching has been optimised for smoother operation. Any liquidity added to pools now updates the My Positions page in real-time. Battle-tested security For this launch, we implemented several security measures. We underwent a rigorous 7-week audit process with Nethermind. With the help of the Nethermind team, we also created a test framework for Jediswap to compare security against Uniswap v3, which has been operational for 3+ years and is one of the most battle-tested smart contracts available. We simulated real data from different Uniswap v3 pools on Jediswap. We achieved a 100% match in the contract state after each on-chain action, such as swaps and liquidity adjustments, bolstering our confidence in our code's security. We will announce many cool things over the next few weeks. Keep an out JediSwap ;) Mint a Galxe NFT: To commemorate this launch, we have published a new campaign on Galxe, which rewards users with an NFT for being an early user of Jediswap v2. To earn the Galxe NFT, add at least $25 worth of liquidity to one of the pools listed in the Galxe quest.

JediSwap

107,511 views • 2 years ago

BREAKING: Our world is an information theory-based simulation. Our physical worlds are rendered locally by conscious observer nodes. MIT/Stanford trained Rizwan Virk provides a master compendium of evidence for the simulation hypothesis in our latest documentary (full vid in reply!): 1. The building blocks of reality and biological life look like computer code: interoperable matter-antimatter particles (like electrons and positrons), human base pairs etc. 2. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: position and momentum measurement accuracy trade off against each other. When one is precise, the other is fuzzy: this looks exactly like computational caching. Only a certain amount of information is stored in local memory! 3. Biological and cosmic life involves fundamentally conserved, geometric building blocks: Fibonacci sequence leading to golden ratios are prime examples. They are everywhere. These look like copied and pasted code libraries. 4. All of the physical constants (Planck’s constant, big G Gravity etc) seem like they are fine tuned for life. That leaves intelligent creation as the BASE CASE and MORE likely than the idea that we just happen to be in a Goldilocks zone across millions of random permutations. The magnetosphere of the Earth also plays a role in “programming” biology and only letting in enough UV radiation to support genetic mutations and differential selection 5. Knowledge has client-server relationship. When we discover something new, we upload those discoveries to a central server. This makes new breakthroughs that much easier (this explains the bannister effect with the 4 minute mile and Rupert Sheldrakes (@RupertSheldrake) morphic field findings!). Download times are faster than upload times. Doing something incrementally new is always harder than repeating. 6. Given that only certain information is rendered locally, we end up with air pockets of “consensus reality”: this explains mass false memories as shown by the hugely popular Mandela effect 7. The idea of the mind causing wave function collapse was considered by virtually every early quantum thinker, including the pioneers who developed the core equations we use today (Schrödinger, Von Neumann etc.). Modern smug scientists who say that the wave function collapses due to particles colliding independent of an observer or due to any measurement device are engaging in AS MUCH OR MORE speculation as those who think the mind is responsible. 8. Random event generators point to humans being able to affect conventionally thought of as random “events” (with known statistical distributions) in quantum mechanics (I.e. isotope decay) with their minds. This ALSO points to the human rendering reality in real time 9. Donald Hoffman (Donald Hoffman) shows why from an evolutionary perspective, it is not adaptive for humans to see base reality: we basically render objects into “computer icons”. Again, simulation is more likely. 10. Fermat's theorem points towards light using algorithmic optimization principles that lead to most efficient paths, There are two version of the simulation: Non player character and role playing game. The first is a product of postmodern nihilism -- we can do anything because this is all a video game and we're all bots. The second is life AFFIRMING and it comports with all the world's major religions and Plato. Our primordial souls are being "ported" into a low-level incarnation in which we must learn karmic lessons. Riz and I get into all of the protocols for glimpsing beyond our simulation: it is a narrow, but worthwhile path. In a world obsessing over low level simulations (AGI), we should think more about the computational soup we are all swimming in.
1:58

BREAKING: Our world is an information theory-based simulation. Our physical worlds are rendered locally by conscious observer nodes. MIT/Stanford trained Rizwan Virk provides a master compendium of evidence for the simulation hypothesis in our latest documentary (full vid in reply!): 1. The building blocks of reality and biological life look like computer code: interoperable matter-antimatter particles (like electrons and positrons), human base pairs etc. 2. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: position and momentum measurement accuracy trade off against each other. When one is precise, the other is fuzzy: this looks exactly like computational caching. Only a certain amount of information is stored in local memory! 3. Biological and cosmic life involves fundamentally conserved, geometric building blocks: Fibonacci sequence leading to golden ratios are prime examples. They are everywhere. These look like copied and pasted code libraries. 4. All of the physical constants (Planck’s constant, big G Gravity etc) seem like they are fine tuned for life. That leaves intelligent creation as the BASE CASE and MORE likely than the idea that we just happen to be in a Goldilocks zone across millions of random permutations. The magnetosphere of the Earth also plays a role in “programming” biology and only letting in enough UV radiation to support genetic mutations and differential selection 5. Knowledge has client-server relationship. When we discover something new, we upload those discoveries to a central server. This makes new breakthroughs that much easier (this explains the bannister effect with the 4 minute mile and Rupert Sheldrakes (@RupertSheldrake) morphic field findings!). Download times are faster than upload times. Doing something incrementally new is always harder than repeating. 6. Given that only certain information is rendered locally, we end up with air pockets of “consensus reality”: this explains mass false memories as shown by the hugely popular Mandela effect 7. The idea of the mind causing wave function collapse was considered by virtually every early quantum thinker, including the pioneers who developed the core equations we use today (Schrödinger, Von Neumann etc.). Modern smug scientists who say that the wave function collapses due to particles colliding independent of an observer or due to any measurement device are engaging in AS MUCH OR MORE speculation as those who think the mind is responsible. 8. Random event generators point to humans being able to affect conventionally thought of as random “events” (with known statistical distributions) in quantum mechanics (I.e. isotope decay) with their minds. This ALSO points to the human rendering reality in real time 9. Donald Hoffman (Donald Hoffman) shows why from an evolutionary perspective, it is not adaptive for humans to see base reality: we basically render objects into “computer icons”. Again, simulation is more likely. 10. Fermat's theorem points towards light using algorithmic optimization principles that lead to most efficient paths, There are two version of the simulation: Non player character and role playing game. The first is a product of postmodern nihilism -- we can do anything because this is all a video game and we're all bots. The second is life AFFIRMING and it comports with all the world's major religions and Plato. Our primordial souls are being "ported" into a low-level incarnation in which we must learn karmic lessons. Riz and I get into all of the protocols for glimpsing beyond our simulation: it is a narrow, but worthwhile path. In a world obsessing over low level simulations (AGI), we should think more about the computational soup we are all swimming in.

Jesse Michels

298,117 views • 1 year ago

NIGERIA AND TRUMP’S INTERVENTION: A TIME FOR TRUTH AND RENEWAL By Valentine Ozigbo This was a video of me in 2018, when I first chaired Unusual Praise in Lagos — long before my foray into politics. That year, our leadership chose to dedicate the project to raising awareness and support for our brothers and sisters in Benue State, who had become victims of relentless attacks by armed militias, or whatever names they are called. Tragically, those same patterns of violence have since spread across our country. Today, as I reflect on Nigeria’s current situation — and the recent decision by United States’ President Donald Trump to intervene — I feel compelled to speak as both a citizen and a believer in this nation's promise. 1. The Courage to Confront the Truth Our first responsibility as a nation is honesty. We must admit that we have a problem — one that runs deep into the very fabric of governance, justice, and moral leadership. We cannot heal what we refuse to confront. Nigeria must be reimagined on the pillars of truth, equity, and the rule of law — with accountability for every action, at every level. No amount of public relations or diplomatic spin can replace the sincerity of purpose. If we want peace, we must build justice. If we desire unity, we must earn trust. 2. The Urgency of Diplomatic Leadership The recent actions and statements from the United States should have triggered an immediate, coordinated diplomatic response from our government. It was an opportunity for strategic engagement — to open constructive channels, clarify concerns, and affirm the Federal Government's commitment to protecting the lives of its citizens. I expected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to have swiftly activated a high-level diplomatic mission to Washington, aligning Nigeria’s position with both national dignity and global partnership. Some of the official reactions we’ve heard so far, unfortunately, have been unhelpful, even counterproductive. This was not the moment for defensiveness or rhetoric. We must remember that diplomacy is not submission — it is strategy. A strong and dignified foreign policy does not react emotionally; it acts responsibly. 3. The Pathway to Renewal Nigeria, as currently constituted, is not sustainable. Even what works can be improved — even more so for what does not. That is why I sincerely urge my party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the leadership of President Tinubu, to take full responsibility for both past and present failings. Let us show humility, apologise where necessary, and commit to genuine repentance. The place to begin is the rule of law — ensuring an independent and accountable judiciary, and fixing our broken electoral system. This means implementing electronic voting, ensuring the real-time transmission of results, and allowing independent candidacy, with clear legislation and timelines for each reform. These reforms are not political luxuries — they are moral imperatives. A nation’s destiny cannot rise higher than the credibility of its elections. 4. A Call for National Dialogue and Restructuring More fundamentally, Nigeria needs an honest, structured conversation about its future. I strongly recommend bringing together the leadership of The Patriots, the Fatherland Group (which advocates the Orange Union Model), and the Federal Government’s representatives to identify specific priorities, assign responsibilities, and set clear deadlines for key steps in restructuring our federation. A credible working document for this dialogue remains the 2014 National Conference Report — a blueprint born of consensus and national goodwill. Our diversity should be a source of strength, not suspicion. True federalism, balanced devolution of powers, and regional autonomy within a united framework can unlock Nigeria’s full potential. 5. Restoring Hope and Order Beyond political reforms, we must renew our collective moral compass. 1/2
0:51

NIGERIA AND TRUMP’S INTERVENTION: A TIME FOR TRUTH AND RENEWAL By Valentine Ozigbo This was a video of me in 2018, when I first chaired Unusual Praise in Lagos — long before my foray into politics. That year, our leadership chose to dedicate the project to raising awareness and support for our brothers and sisters in Benue State, who had become victims of relentless attacks by armed militias, or whatever names they are called. Tragically, those same patterns of violence have since spread across our country. Today, as I reflect on Nigeria’s current situation — and the recent decision by United States’ President Donald Trump to intervene — I feel compelled to speak as both a citizen and a believer in this nation's promise. 1. The Courage to Confront the Truth Our first responsibility as a nation is honesty. We must admit that we have a problem — one that runs deep into the very fabric of governance, justice, and moral leadership. We cannot heal what we refuse to confront. Nigeria must be reimagined on the pillars of truth, equity, and the rule of law — with accountability for every action, at every level. No amount of public relations or diplomatic spin can replace the sincerity of purpose. If we want peace, we must build justice. If we desire unity, we must earn trust. 2. The Urgency of Diplomatic Leadership The recent actions and statements from the United States should have triggered an immediate, coordinated diplomatic response from our government. It was an opportunity for strategic engagement — to open constructive channels, clarify concerns, and affirm the Federal Government's commitment to protecting the lives of its citizens. I expected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to have swiftly activated a high-level diplomatic mission to Washington, aligning Nigeria’s position with both national dignity and global partnership. Some of the official reactions we’ve heard so far, unfortunately, have been unhelpful, even counterproductive. This was not the moment for defensiveness or rhetoric. We must remember that diplomacy is not submission — it is strategy. A strong and dignified foreign policy does not react emotionally; it acts responsibly. 3. The Pathway to Renewal Nigeria, as currently constituted, is not sustainable. Even what works can be improved — even more so for what does not. That is why I sincerely urge my party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the leadership of President Tinubu, to take full responsibility for both past and present failings. Let us show humility, apologise where necessary, and commit to genuine repentance. The place to begin is the rule of law — ensuring an independent and accountable judiciary, and fixing our broken electoral system. This means implementing electronic voting, ensuring the real-time transmission of results, and allowing independent candidacy, with clear legislation and timelines for each reform. These reforms are not political luxuries — they are moral imperatives. A nation’s destiny cannot rise higher than the credibility of its elections. 4. A Call for National Dialogue and Restructuring More fundamentally, Nigeria needs an honest, structured conversation about its future. I strongly recommend bringing together the leadership of The Patriots, the Fatherland Group (which advocates the Orange Union Model), and the Federal Government’s representatives to identify specific priorities, assign responsibilities, and set clear deadlines for key steps in restructuring our federation. A credible working document for this dialogue remains the 2014 National Conference Report — a blueprint born of consensus and national goodwill. Our diversity should be a source of strength, not suspicion. True federalism, balanced devolution of powers, and regional autonomy within a united framework can unlock Nigeria’s full potential. 5. Restoring Hope and Order Beyond political reforms, we must renew our collective moral compass. 1/2

Valentine Ozigbo

10,949 views • 8 months ago

**TOPIC #80: GCV IS CHAMPION! PI NETWORK IS CHAMPION!** Esteemed Global Pioneers, As we approach the six-year milestone, we anticipate a successful OM. It is noteworthy that CT did not achieve OM in the past three years due to their decision to wait for our successful OM. While the process of implementing OM may appear straightforward, achieving a successful OM is a challenging endeavor. Therefore, our three-year pursuit has been paramount, and we are now on the cusp of reaching our initial objective. From my analysis, I predict that OM will occur within the next 30 days, specifically on March 14th, 2025, as the prevailing universal energies are conducive to significant change. This prediction is supported by the numerical significance associated with Pi, which encompasses the digits 3, 1, and 4, same as our GCV identifier of 314. I have confidence that CT will undertake the necessary arrangements for this occasion. Consequently, we may receive the OM announcement at any time from today onward. This announcement ought to precede the official OM date, given that OM signifies a historic moment. Accordingly, we should begin planning a grand welcome ceremony. I take great satisfaction in observing the progress of our community. I would like to express my gratitude to Ms. Lumari and Mr. Jojo for their exemplary efforts in translating our Pioneers Handbook into 40 languages. I have observed a growing number of pioneers fostering a positive mindset toward the Pi Network and GCV. Furthermore, an increasing portion of pioneers are assuming responsibility as Pi owners, diligently working to safeguard both the Pi Network and GCV. I extend my sincere appreciation to the GCV Ambassadors, GCV warriors, pioneers, and merchants—your combined efforts are fundamental to the success of the Pi Network. It is through your contributions that we are poised to realize our OM in Q1. I would like to take a moment to recognize the exceptional contributions of Mr. Kosasih and Mr. Dimas Nawawi in relation to the Pi Network and GCV. Mr. Kosasih’s extensive professional background and his code available on GitHub provide a comprehensive framework that includes various configurations for the Pi Network, such as API, node, PiBank, DaoMall, PiNexus, and PiFinance Core, among others. Although we currently do not have official announcement detailing Mr. Kosasih’s background, we should be very appreciative of his tremendous contributions. GCV has already established its success. The membership status of Mr. Kosasih in CT is not important; what is vital is that GCV will proceed with an OM that features a stable coin valued at $314,159. The likelihood of Mr. Kosasih’s GitHub code being adopted by PCT is high due to its inherent value, and I believe it aligns with all of PCT's expectations. His association with CT is inconsequential; he can also contribute as an independent contributor within the Pi Network. As long as his code maintains significant value, it will certainly be utilized by PCT. Regarding Mr. Dimas, he consistently dedicates his efforts to explain the GitHub code. I deeply appreciate his commitment and professionalism in clarifying both GCV and the code to our pioneers. His strong background in programming enables him to effectively explain Mr. Kosasih’s code. His steadfast belief in and passion for the Pi Network and GCV are evident in his tireless work to support our community. Moreover, he has successfully persuaded many pioneers who were initially opposed to GCV to reconsider their positions, thereby preventing a significant number of pioneers from selling their Pi. We function as a cohesive family, inclusive of GCV education ambassadors and ecosystem development ambassadors. There is a need for the establishment of Technology GCV ambassadors. Our extensive community collaborates to facilitate the success of the Pi Network. To all Global Pioneers, we are nearing OM; it is not allowed to sell your Pi, as doing so may jeopardize your entire account. I receive daily reports from pioneers who have fallen victim to scams while attempting to sell their Pi. They end up losing the Pi they sold, and the buyers subsequently block them, failing to provide FIAT payment. We are on the verge of achieving OM, with a stable value of $314,159 per Pi. Unfortunately, pioneers who choose to engage in sales not only forfeit the Pi they sold but may also have all the Pi in their wallets confiscated, and their accounts could be frozen for 100 years. This is serious. I've noticed that many Pioneer accounts have had their Pi removed and are now frozen. I urge all Pioneers to support each other. Please encourage your peers to review the Pioneers Handbook and share Mr. Dimas's code to help build their confidence in the Pi Network and GCV. By taking these actions, we can facilitate the transition of millions of pioneers from poverty to prosperity. This approach will also assist CT in accelerating the migration process when they observe a decline in Pi sales. We are pleased to announce that Malaysia and the Philippines will host carnival dinners for 1,000 pioneers to celebrate the arrival of OM soon. I encourage you to consider similar initiatives within your own communities. I believe that in the coming days, we will ascertain the OM date, and I strongly encourage your communities to organize gatherings or events to celebrate this significant occasion. Last year, we held four International GCV Conferences in May and June, paving the way for today's victory. These pivotal conferences united GCV warriors and leaders from around the world. Through these conferences, we earned the trust and support of global pioneers in GCV and our Global GCV CT, leading to the creation of the GCV Ambassadors system in nearly 100 countries. Today, Let's celebrate by watching the video from our last 4th conference and the poem that inspired us. Let’s express our heartfelt gratitude to all GCV warriors. Together, we have finally reached our goal! --------- After all this time Our journey together Has led us all To unite under a common goal The journey started off lonely But now…GCV has blossomed And it’s thanks to everyone’s collective efforts Be proud! You have weathered through the storm Your efforts have paid off And GCV couldn’t have achieved this without you It has been an amazing and arduous journey But we didn’t just survived We thrived! And it’s thanks to all of you! We are champions! GCV is a champion Pi Network is a Champion Many thanks to The Global GCV Core Team Our current journey ends here, But this doesn’t mean goodbye We will still be connected Building a brighter future And remembering this journey for years to come Never forgetting the friends we made along the way Never forgetting the future we want to build For ourselves And for future generations A future that encourages Diplomacy Win-Win Solutions And Connectivity None of this would be possible without GCV pioneers Thank you! Doris Yin 🪷🪷🪷 Founder, Global GCV Movement Feb.11th, 2025
3:19

**TOPIC #80: GCV IS CHAMPION! PI NETWORK IS CHAMPION!** Esteemed Global Pioneers, As we approach the six-year milestone, we anticipate a successful OM. It is noteworthy that CT did not achieve OM in the past three years due to their decision to wait for our successful OM. While the process of implementing OM may appear straightforward, achieving a successful OM is a challenging endeavor. Therefore, our three-year pursuit has been paramount, and we are now on the cusp of reaching our initial objective. From my analysis, I predict that OM will occur within the next 30 days, specifically on March 14th, 2025, as the prevailing universal energies are conducive to significant change. This prediction is supported by the numerical significance associated with Pi, which encompasses the digits 3, 1, and 4, same as our GCV identifier of 314. I have confidence that CT will undertake the necessary arrangements for this occasion. Consequently, we may receive the OM announcement at any time from today onward. This announcement ought to precede the official OM date, given that OM signifies a historic moment. Accordingly, we should begin planning a grand welcome ceremony. I take great satisfaction in observing the progress of our community. I would like to express my gratitude to Ms. Lumari and Mr. Jojo for their exemplary efforts in translating our Pioneers Handbook into 40 languages. I have observed a growing number of pioneers fostering a positive mindset toward the Pi Network and GCV. Furthermore, an increasing portion of pioneers are assuming responsibility as Pi owners, diligently working to safeguard both the Pi Network and GCV. I extend my sincere appreciation to the GCV Ambassadors, GCV warriors, pioneers, and merchants—your combined efforts are fundamental to the success of the Pi Network. It is through your contributions that we are poised to realize our OM in Q1. I would like to take a moment to recognize the exceptional contributions of Mr. Kosasih and Mr. Dimas Nawawi in relation to the Pi Network and GCV. Mr. Kosasih’s extensive professional background and his code available on GitHub provide a comprehensive framework that includes various configurations for the Pi Network, such as API, node, PiBank, DaoMall, PiNexus, and PiFinance Core, among others. Although we currently do not have official announcement detailing Mr. Kosasih’s background, we should be very appreciative of his tremendous contributions. GCV has already established its success. The membership status of Mr. Kosasih in CT is not important; what is vital is that GCV will proceed with an OM that features a stable coin valued at $314,159. The likelihood of Mr. Kosasih’s GitHub code being adopted by PCT is high due to its inherent value, and I believe it aligns with all of PCT's expectations. His association with CT is inconsequential; he can also contribute as an independent contributor within the Pi Network. As long as his code maintains significant value, it will certainly be utilized by PCT. Regarding Mr. Dimas, he consistently dedicates his efforts to explain the GitHub code. I deeply appreciate his commitment and professionalism in clarifying both GCV and the code to our pioneers. His strong background in programming enables him to effectively explain Mr. Kosasih’s code. His steadfast belief in and passion for the Pi Network and GCV are evident in his tireless work to support our community. Moreover, he has successfully persuaded many pioneers who were initially opposed to GCV to reconsider their positions, thereby preventing a significant number of pioneers from selling their Pi. We function as a cohesive family, inclusive of GCV education ambassadors and ecosystem development ambassadors. There is a need for the establishment of Technology GCV ambassadors. Our extensive community collaborates to facilitate the success of the Pi Network. To all Global Pioneers, we are nearing OM; it is not allowed to sell your Pi, as doing so may jeopardize your entire account. I receive daily reports from pioneers who have fallen victim to scams while attempting to sell their Pi. They end up losing the Pi they sold, and the buyers subsequently block them, failing to provide FIAT payment. We are on the verge of achieving OM, with a stable value of $314,159 per Pi. Unfortunately, pioneers who choose to engage in sales not only forfeit the Pi they sold but may also have all the Pi in their wallets confiscated, and their accounts could be frozen for 100 years. This is serious. I've noticed that many Pioneer accounts have had their Pi removed and are now frozen. I urge all Pioneers to support each other. Please encourage your peers to review the Pioneers Handbook and share Mr. Dimas's code to help build their confidence in the Pi Network and GCV. By taking these actions, we can facilitate the transition of millions of pioneers from poverty to prosperity. This approach will also assist CT in accelerating the migration process when they observe a decline in Pi sales. We are pleased to announce that Malaysia and the Philippines will host carnival dinners for 1,000 pioneers to celebrate the arrival of OM soon. I encourage you to consider similar initiatives within your own communities. I believe that in the coming days, we will ascertain the OM date, and I strongly encourage your communities to organize gatherings or events to celebrate this significant occasion. Last year, we held four International GCV Conferences in May and June, paving the way for today's victory. These pivotal conferences united GCV warriors and leaders from around the world. Through these conferences, we earned the trust and support of global pioneers in GCV and our Global GCV CT, leading to the creation of the GCV Ambassadors system in nearly 100 countries. Today, Let's celebrate by watching the video from our last 4th conference and the poem that inspired us. Let’s express our heartfelt gratitude to all GCV warriors. Together, we have finally reached our goal! --------- After all this time Our journey together Has led us all To unite under a common goal The journey started off lonely But now…GCV has blossomed And it’s thanks to everyone’s collective efforts Be proud! You have weathered through the storm Your efforts have paid off And GCV couldn’t have achieved this without you It has been an amazing and arduous journey But we didn’t just survived We thrived! And it’s thanks to all of you! We are champions! GCV is a champion Pi Network is a Champion Many thanks to The Global GCV Core Team Our current journey ends here, But this doesn’t mean goodbye We will still be connected Building a brighter future And remembering this journey for years to come Never forgetting the friends we made along the way Never forgetting the future we want to build For ourselves And for future generations A future that encourages Diplomacy Win-Win Solutions And Connectivity None of this would be possible without GCV pioneers Thank you! Doris Yin 🪷🪷🪷 Founder, Global GCV Movement Feb.11th, 2025

Doris Yin 东方紫莲🪷

96,669 views • 1 year ago

**Let's Unite and Work Together for Successful OM!** Happy Sunday, dear global pioneers! How are you doing? I am here again to have video with you. I count the day to OM. How about you? 😊 I just recorded an informative 8-minute video addressing several important matters concerning our community and the future of the Pi Network and OM. The following is my speech summary. 1. First, I want to discuss our upcoming OM event date, which I believe will take place on Pi Day, celebrating the sixth birthday of the Pi Network. This date is particularly significant due to the symbolism of the numbers 314, derived from Pi, and GCV, which corresponds to a value of $314,159. Both of these numbers carry positive energy that I am confident will lead to prosperity and success for all of us involved in this project. 2.Regarding the GitHub code for Pi as stablecoin, it’s essential to clarify that the Pi value of $314.159 is not an arbitrary figure chosen by Mr. Kasasih; it is a value established through our blockchain records. This figure reflects the collective efforts of the global GCV community, which includes merchants, pioneers, community leaders, and GCV ambassadors who have dedicated over two years of hard work to compile an astounding 5 million data entries for GCV. 3. It is not important whether Mr. Kasasih is a member of the CT because the GCV exists as a concrete record on the blockchain. Regardless of who writes the code, the GCV value remains steadfast at $314.159. I also want to reiterate that I indicated GCV had emerged victorious during last year’s Pi2day celebration. Mr. Kasasih's coding skills are highly professional and valuable, and it’s quite likely that the CT will leverage this expertise in future developments. Who knows? 4.Furthermore, it is essential to emphasize that I don't have affiliation with the CT . The Pi value GCV lies in its origin from the pioneers rather than the Core Team. Dr. Nicolas has authorized the pioneers as the true creators of the Pi value, making it unnecessary to seek approval from the CT. When the CT decides to move forward to OM, it represents they satisfy with our GCV vision and mission are align with white paper vision and mission. This important progress will likely bring joy and pride to the pioneers, as it highlights our collective achievements. 5. As we look ahead, I believe we only have 54 days remaining before significant changes occur. I urge all anti-GCV pioneers to take a moment to reflect on the implications of this project. GCV will provide you with financial freedom, so it is not smart to oppose such an opportunity. And if pioneers involve in blackmarket will lose all account Pi. To maintain our focus on positive progress, we have made the decision to block and unfollow all individuals who express anti-GCV emotion. Our commitment is to concentrate on our shared objectives for Pi Network success and disregard negative remarks. 6. So, what should pioneers do during the last 54 days? First and foremost, I encourage everyone to focus on the Pioneers Handbook. Joining the International Telegram GCV Group is also vital, as it provides access to Pioneers Handbook available in 30 different languages. Engaging with this resource will help alleviate any uncertainties and anxieties you may have and foster a sense of happiness and relaxation. Remember, excessive worry can adversely affect your health. All worries and doubts will be totally go away after you carefully read five times. 7.Additionally, I encourage all pioneers to actively share information and articles related to GCV activities to help others stay informed and catch up. If you operate a business, please consider joining the GCV movement by accepting partial Pi payments at GCV, as this will promote wider participation within our ecosystem. 8. As we approach the OM launch, which is only 54 days away, it is crucial that we focus on building a robust ecosystem rather than fixating solely on a select few pioneers acquiring high-value commodities through full Pi payments. Our priority should be to expand GCV data and attract a wide range of industries to participate in the Pi Network at GCV. Notably, even a 10% Pi payment can generate one GCV data entry, while full Pi payments may discourage potential merchants from joining the Pi Network. By broadening more merchants, we can lay a solid foundation for our ecosystem, ensuring that GCV remains stable and reliable. This strategy will also facilitate quicker KYC and migration processes for all pioneers following the OM, as we will have established an extensive and trustworthy ecosystem. After the OM, we will successfully implement full Pi payments, allowing all pioneers to benefit from using full Pi for a wide array of products and services. Therefore, we should maintain a long-term vision. I sincerely hope all pioneers enjoy your Sunday, and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support of our collective journey. Together, we can achieve great things! 🙏🙏🙏 Doris Yin 🪷🪷🪷 Jan.19th, 2025
8:00

**Let's Unite and Work Together for Successful OM!** Happy Sunday, dear global pioneers! How are you doing? I am here again to have video with you. I count the day to OM. How about you? 😊 I just recorded an informative 8-minute video addressing several important matters concerning our community and the future of the Pi Network and OM. The following is my speech summary. 1. First, I want to discuss our upcoming OM event date, which I believe will take place on Pi Day, celebrating the sixth birthday of the Pi Network. This date is particularly significant due to the symbolism of the numbers 314, derived from Pi, and GCV, which corresponds to a value of $314,159. Both of these numbers carry positive energy that I am confident will lead to prosperity and success for all of us involved in this project. 2.Regarding the GitHub code for Pi as stablecoin, it’s essential to clarify that the Pi value of $314.159 is not an arbitrary figure chosen by Mr. Kasasih; it is a value established through our blockchain records. This figure reflects the collective efforts of the global GCV community, which includes merchants, pioneers, community leaders, and GCV ambassadors who have dedicated over two years of hard work to compile an astounding 5 million data entries for GCV. 3. It is not important whether Mr. Kasasih is a member of the CT because the GCV exists as a concrete record on the blockchain. Regardless of who writes the code, the GCV value remains steadfast at $314.159. I also want to reiterate that I indicated GCV had emerged victorious during last year’s Pi2day celebration. Mr. Kasasih's coding skills are highly professional and valuable, and it’s quite likely that the CT will leverage this expertise in future developments. Who knows? 4.Furthermore, it is essential to emphasize that I don't have affiliation with the CT . The Pi value GCV lies in its origin from the pioneers rather than the Core Team. Dr. Nicolas has authorized the pioneers as the true creators of the Pi value, making it unnecessary to seek approval from the CT. When the CT decides to move forward to OM, it represents they satisfy with our GCV vision and mission are align with white paper vision and mission. This important progress will likely bring joy and pride to the pioneers, as it highlights our collective achievements. 5. As we look ahead, I believe we only have 54 days remaining before significant changes occur. I urge all anti-GCV pioneers to take a moment to reflect on the implications of this project. GCV will provide you with financial freedom, so it is not smart to oppose such an opportunity. And if pioneers involve in blackmarket will lose all account Pi. To maintain our focus on positive progress, we have made the decision to block and unfollow all individuals who express anti-GCV emotion. Our commitment is to concentrate on our shared objectives for Pi Network success and disregard negative remarks. 6. So, what should pioneers do during the last 54 days? First and foremost, I encourage everyone to focus on the Pioneers Handbook. Joining the International Telegram GCV Group is also vital, as it provides access to Pioneers Handbook available in 30 different languages. Engaging with this resource will help alleviate any uncertainties and anxieties you may have and foster a sense of happiness and relaxation. Remember, excessive worry can adversely affect your health. All worries and doubts will be totally go away after you carefully read five times. 7.Additionally, I encourage all pioneers to actively share information and articles related to GCV activities to help others stay informed and catch up. If you operate a business, please consider joining the GCV movement by accepting partial Pi payments at GCV, as this will promote wider participation within our ecosystem. 8. As we approach the OM launch, which is only 54 days away, it is crucial that we focus on building a robust ecosystem rather than fixating solely on a select few pioneers acquiring high-value commodities through full Pi payments. Our priority should be to expand GCV data and attract a wide range of industries to participate in the Pi Network at GCV. Notably, even a 10% Pi payment can generate one GCV data entry, while full Pi payments may discourage potential merchants from joining the Pi Network. By broadening more merchants, we can lay a solid foundation for our ecosystem, ensuring that GCV remains stable and reliable. This strategy will also facilitate quicker KYC and migration processes for all pioneers following the OM, as we will have established an extensive and trustworthy ecosystem. After the OM, we will successfully implement full Pi payments, allowing all pioneers to benefit from using full Pi for a wide array of products and services. Therefore, we should maintain a long-term vision. I sincerely hope all pioneers enjoy your Sunday, and I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support of our collective journey. Together, we can achieve great things! 🙏🙏🙏 Doris Yin 🪷🪷🪷 Jan.19th, 2025

Doris Yin 东方紫莲🪷

43,782 views • 1 year ago

War Diary Day 1,391 Blaise Metreweli, the Chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, sticks it to the Killer in The Kremlin. And all his creepy helpers. I agree with every fucking word. VPDFO! (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered) 📷 Welcome inside MI6. This iconic building, familiar to movie fans everywhere, is the home of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency. But whilst hundreds of my team pass through the entry pods each day, the truth is that most of our work happens many miles away from this place - out of sight, hidden from the world, undercover, recruiting and running agents who choose to place their trust in us, sharing secrets to make the UK and the world safer. You might pass one of our officers on the street or sit next to them on a plane when you’re about to set off on an adventure of your own, or in a foreign city taking selfies by the sights. Whether it’s in seemingly everyday places, or on the front line embedded with our military, MI6 is there. In my first few weeks, I’ve heard repeatedly that MI6 is trusted and respected globally, two things that we never take for granted. We are seen as a source of hard power, soft influence and rapid innovation. I’ve also heard that people want to believe in MI6. It’s my job to make sure they can. Today, I want to talk about human agency. We all have choices to make about how we deal with the undercurrents shaping our world. About how, in our new, faster, more dangerous and technology-mediated world, it will be our rediscovery of our shared humanity, our ability to listen, and our courage that will determine how our future unfolds. Conflict is not inevitable. Understanding human nature is in my bones. From a family shaped by devastating conflict, I grew up with a deep sense of gratitude for the UK’s precious democracy and freedom. I spent much of my childhood overseas, which is where my passion for travel and adventure began. I studied anthropology, and later psychology and AI, exploring how we make sense of the world and each other. It’s why I was drawn to MI6: it offers strong purpose, a chance to serve and a belief in the positive power of human connection. Like the Service, I’m operational to my very core. Over nearly three decades, my career has involved recruiting and running agents in hostile territory; and leading operations in warzones to defuse threats and support peace. Always in teams, always learning from others. Over the years, I’ve worked with hundreds of brilliant partners – and indeed occasionally those we’d label as adversaries – across dozens of countries, tackling weapons proliferation and terrorism. During my time at MI5, I saw close up what it takes to defend Britain from being targeted by hostile states. You’ll find many like me in my organisation: powerfully motivated to protect our precious country; curious about how our world is changing, joining dots and taking action, across domains. But it was in my last role as ‘Q’, where it was my job to turn emerging technologies from threats to opportunities that I could most see the world changing. As I dug deep into data and extraordinary innovation, I could see how technology was rapidly reshaping not just our capabilities but also conflict and trust, truth and global power. Let me lay out how I see the global issues MI6 must tackle. Because the greatest danger we face is to misunderstand the nature of the problem. Let’s be in no doubt. Our world is more dangerous and contested now than it has been for decades. Conflict is evolving and trust eroding, just as new technologies spur both competition and dependence. We are being contested from sea to space, from the battlefield to the boardroom. And even our brains, as disinformation manipulates our understanding of each other and ourselves. Across the globe, we are now confronting not one single danger, but an interlocking web of security challenges – military, technological, social, ethical even – each shaping the other in complex ways. We are now operating in a space between peace and war. This is not a temporary state or a gradual, inevitable evolution. Our world is being actively remade, with profound implications for national and international security. Institutions which were designed in the ashes of the Second World War are being challenged. New blocs and identities forming and alliances reshaping. Multipolar competition in tension with multilateral cooperation. But there’s something distinctive that will make this change unlike any other: the impact of advanced technologies, which will accelerate the pace and scale of every threat and opportunity, and increasingly, individualise them too. Advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum computing are not only revolutionising economies but rewriting the reality of conflict, as they ‘converge’ to create science-fiction-like tools. There’s incredible promise in all this for all of us, from green technologies to hyper-personalised medicine. But also peril. AI-powered robots and drones are brilliant for scaled manufacturing but devastating on the battlefield. Discoveries that cure disease can also create new weapons. And as states race for tech supremacy, or as some algorithms become as powerful as states, those hyper-personalised tools could become a new vector for conflict and control. Power itself is becoming more diffuse, more unpredictable as control over these technologies is shifting from states to corporations, and sometimes to individuals. And at the same time, the foundations of trust in our societies are eroding. Information, once a unifying force, is increasingly weaponised. Falsehood spreads faster than fact, dividing communities and distorting reality. We live in an age of hyper-connection yet profound isolation. The algorithms flatter our biases and fracture our public squares. And as trust collapses, so does our shared sense of truth – one of the greatest losses a society can suffer. The defining challenge of the twenty-first century is not simply who wields the most powerful technologies, but who guides them with the greatest wisdom. Our security, our prosperity, and our humanity depend on it. Our world is being remade. And for the first time, we are all at the heart of it. My Service must now operate in this new context too: not just expert on hostile states, terrorism, proliferation and more, but also fluent in technology, able to anticipate the second and third order effects of advances that reshape the world in minutes not months. And as China will be a central part of the global transformation taking place this century, it is essential that we, as MI6, continue to inform the government’s understanding of China’s rise and the implications for UK national security. I’m going to break with tradition and won’t give you a global threat tour, but will focus here on Putin’s Russia. We all continue to face the menace of an aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia, seeking to subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO. I find it harrowing that hundreds of thousands have died, with the toll mounting every day, because of Putin’s historical distortions and his compromised desire for respect. He is dragging out negotiations and shifting the cost of war onto his own population. But Putin should be in no doubt, our support is enduring. The pressure we apply on Ukraine’s behalf will be sustained. Because it is fundamental not just to European sovereignty and security but to global stability. Alongside the grinding war, Russia is testing us in the grey zone with tactics that are just below the threshold of war. It’s important to understand their attempts to bully, fearmonger and manipulate, because it affects us all. I am talking about: Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. Drones buzzing airports and bases. Aggressive activity in our seas, above and below the waves. State-sponsored arson and sabotage. Propaganda and influence operations that crack open and exploit fractures within societies. Countering this activity is the work of intelligence and security services across Europe and the globe. And as the Foreign Secretary made clear in a speech last week, the UK is defending itself against this Russian information warfare – sanctioning Russian media outlets pushing Kremlin narratives. The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in this Russian approach to international engagement; and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus. So, how should we respond? It’s not enough now just to understand the world. We must shape it too. MI6 is well-positioned to respond to these threats and wider global instability. And we will continue to evolve, just as we have throughout our long history. The UK government has invested in our intelligence agencies and we are all using our unique powers to keep the British people safe. Our ‘open and connected’ partnerships across the UK Intelligence Community, with HMGCC, NSSIF and the wider tech ecosystem in the UK will become even more important – because in the digital battleground, no single organisation can prevail alone. As a global agency, MI6’s inbuilt strength is our partners and our people. The risks I have set out require us to work ever more closely with our colleagues in MI5, GCHQ and in defence and diplomacy. But also with our Five Eyes partners, with the E3, the EU, NATO, those across the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific and beyond. And with many valued partners whose identity needs to remain secret. Together, we integrate our diverse talent, data and tools to meet the threat. AI is a domain in which we will excel, using the technology to augment, not replace, our human skills. Every digital trace, every byte of data, every algorithmic decision has implications for the safety of the lives of the courageous people who work with us as officers and agents, and for the UK’s strategic advantage. Mastery of technology will infuse everything we do. Not just in our labs, but in the field, in our tradecraft, and even more importantly, in the mindset of every officer. We will become as comfortable with lines of code as we are with human sources, as fluent in Python as we are in multiple other languages. Under my leadership, MI6 will continue to attract Britain’s best and most creative minds: linguists and data scientists, case officers and engineers, behavioural experts and technologists. We need people who walk in the shoes and get in the heads of our adversaries. We need people who think differently, challenge assumptions, and act decisively. All can thrive and make a difference at MI6. At an operational level, we will sharpen our edge and impact with audacity, tapping into – if you like – our historical SOE instincts. We’re at our best when we’re hustling to make things happen, because our intelligence is most valuable when it changes reality on the ground. We will take calculated risks, where the prize is significant and the national interest clear. We will never stoop to the tactics of our opponents. But we must seek to outplay them. In every domain. In every way. So intelligence must drive action. Action must deliver advantage. And advantage must serve Britain’s security and prosperity. But at the core, our deeper contribution is also our simplest – how we unlock human agency. Our fast-paced, tech and threat-infused world now generates more heat than light. As nations retrench and rearm, we are losing opportunities to listen to what’s really going on. I’ve seen time and again throughout my career, that this is where MI6 matters most: we listen and we hear. We understand, because we take time to learn languages and cultures, complex technical and historical detail, immerse ourselves in what’s really driving the situation. Across the globe, right now, our officers are finding people with the courage to step forward, and they are taking time to sit and listen to break these tightening cycles of violence. They listen for nuance, for connection, for opportunity. Over the years, I’ve listened to terrorists who have told us how to defuse the bomb because they know that more violence won’t help. To proliferators and smugglers who’ve told us where to find the dangerous material, motivated to protect their children’s future. To people trapped in authoritarian regimes who know, deep down, that their humanity is being chipped away – and that telling us what’s really going on is an important release, allowing us all to find better ways to navigate our changing world. So, we will work with our agents. And we will continue to engage directly, and with respect, with states and organisation currently working against us. Away from the glare of the media, we will use MI6’s convening power wherever we can to make a material difference, bringing parties together to defuse tensions. But the response to the increasing risks we face won’t be delivered by the UK intelligence community alone. Wider society has a role to play too. That includes work taking place in schools across the country so our children don’t get duped by information manipulation. Let’s all check sources, consider evidence, and be alive to those algorithms that trigger intense reactions, like fear. It also means everyone in society really understanding the world we are in – a world where terrorists plot against us, where our enemies fearmonger, bully and manipulate, and the front line is everywhere. Online, on our streets, in our supply chains, in the minds and on the screens of our citizens. We must all stand together against this. As we do today with our friends in Australia after the shocking antisemitic terrorist attack this weekend. My thoughts -and those of my whole organisation – are with the family, friends and loved ones of the victims. Light will always win over darkness. In rising to meet these challenges we, in MI6, will remain anchored to our values: courage, creativity, respect and integrity. And to our principles: accountability and trust are not constraints on our work; they are the foundations of our legitimacy with the British public. Recently, I had the privilege of meeting and thanking a foreign agent who has worked with us for decades, taking extraordinary risks to help keep the UK safe. I asked why. They said simply, ‘Your values. Your integrity and respect. None of us have a future without them’. This moment reinforced to me that we must remain a very human agency. And so, to sustain that trust, MI6 will continue to be more open. Not for the sake of visibility, but because it matters – and as my MI5 counterpart Sir Ken McCallum said recently - because it is a strength. We will continue the practice of speaking publicly, broaden our channels of engagement, and sustain our focus on attracting the most diverse talent to join our Service. Transparency does not mean revealing what must remain secret. It means showing the British people who we are, what we stand for, and why our work matters. We need your trust and support for the difficult and often dangerous work our agents pursue, every day of the year. In an age of uncertainty, one constant remains: the choices made by human beings still determine the shape of the world. Yes, technology can illuminate possibilities: but information requires judgement; complexity demands clarity; and only people can decide which path to follow. The United Kingdom’s global voice has never rested solely on strength – it has rested on trust, principle, and the ability to understand others as well as ourselves. That is also the essence of intelligence: not simply knowing the world, but interpreting it through a uniquely human lens. Ours is the quiet service, the hidden service. It is one rooted in a profound belief that when human beings act with purpose and integrity, they can steady a faltering world. When the Berlin Wall fell, it was our shared belief in freedom that carried Europe forward. When acts of terror targeted open societies, it was intelligence, cooperation and resolve that preserved them. And when adversaries blur fact and falsehood, our task is to defend the space where truth can still stand. As we step into the future, the tools at our disposal will evolve. But what will always matter most is the human element – the person who stands in the shadows and says: this is right, and that is wrong. That choice – the exercise of human agency – has shaped our world before, and it will shape it again. Because in the end, it is not what we can do that defines us, but what we choose to do. Thank you. Published 15 December 2025
0:59

War Diary Day 1,391 Blaise Metreweli, the Chief of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, sticks it to the Killer in The Kremlin. And all his creepy helpers. I agree with every fucking word. VPDFO! (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered) 📷 Welcome inside MI6. This iconic building, familiar to movie fans everywhere, is the home of Britain’s foreign intelligence agency. But whilst hundreds of my team pass through the entry pods each day, the truth is that most of our work happens many miles away from this place - out of sight, hidden from the world, undercover, recruiting and running agents who choose to place their trust in us, sharing secrets to make the UK and the world safer. You might pass one of our officers on the street or sit next to them on a plane when you’re about to set off on an adventure of your own, or in a foreign city taking selfies by the sights. Whether it’s in seemingly everyday places, or on the front line embedded with our military, MI6 is there. In my first few weeks, I’ve heard repeatedly that MI6 is trusted and respected globally, two things that we never take for granted. We are seen as a source of hard power, soft influence and rapid innovation. I’ve also heard that people want to believe in MI6. It’s my job to make sure they can. Today, I want to talk about human agency. We all have choices to make about how we deal with the undercurrents shaping our world. About how, in our new, faster, more dangerous and technology-mediated world, it will be our rediscovery of our shared humanity, our ability to listen, and our courage that will determine how our future unfolds. Conflict is not inevitable. Understanding human nature is in my bones. From a family shaped by devastating conflict, I grew up with a deep sense of gratitude for the UK’s precious democracy and freedom. I spent much of my childhood overseas, which is where my passion for travel and adventure began. I studied anthropology, and later psychology and AI, exploring how we make sense of the world and each other. It’s why I was drawn to MI6: it offers strong purpose, a chance to serve and a belief in the positive power of human connection. Like the Service, I’m operational to my very core. Over nearly three decades, my career has involved recruiting and running agents in hostile territory; and leading operations in warzones to defuse threats and support peace. Always in teams, always learning from others. Over the years, I’ve worked with hundreds of brilliant partners – and indeed occasionally those we’d label as adversaries – across dozens of countries, tackling weapons proliferation and terrorism. During my time at MI5, I saw close up what it takes to defend Britain from being targeted by hostile states. You’ll find many like me in my organisation: powerfully motivated to protect our precious country; curious about how our world is changing, joining dots and taking action, across domains. But it was in my last role as ‘Q’, where it was my job to turn emerging technologies from threats to opportunities that I could most see the world changing. As I dug deep into data and extraordinary innovation, I could see how technology was rapidly reshaping not just our capabilities but also conflict and trust, truth and global power. Let me lay out how I see the global issues MI6 must tackle. Because the greatest danger we face is to misunderstand the nature of the problem. Let’s be in no doubt. Our world is more dangerous and contested now than it has been for decades. Conflict is evolving and trust eroding, just as new technologies spur both competition and dependence. We are being contested from sea to space, from the battlefield to the boardroom. And even our brains, as disinformation manipulates our understanding of each other and ourselves. Across the globe, we are now confronting not one single danger, but an interlocking web of security challenges – military, technological, social, ethical even – each shaping the other in complex ways. We are now operating in a space between peace and war. This is not a temporary state or a gradual, inevitable evolution. Our world is being actively remade, with profound implications for national and international security. Institutions which were designed in the ashes of the Second World War are being challenged. New blocs and identities forming and alliances reshaping. Multipolar competition in tension with multilateral cooperation. But there’s something distinctive that will make this change unlike any other: the impact of advanced technologies, which will accelerate the pace and scale of every threat and opportunity, and increasingly, individualise them too. Advances in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum computing are not only revolutionising economies but rewriting the reality of conflict, as they ‘converge’ to create science-fiction-like tools. There’s incredible promise in all this for all of us, from green technologies to hyper-personalised medicine. But also peril. AI-powered robots and drones are brilliant for scaled manufacturing but devastating on the battlefield. Discoveries that cure disease can also create new weapons. And as states race for tech supremacy, or as some algorithms become as powerful as states, those hyper-personalised tools could become a new vector for conflict and control. Power itself is becoming more diffuse, more unpredictable as control over these technologies is shifting from states to corporations, and sometimes to individuals. And at the same time, the foundations of trust in our societies are eroding. Information, once a unifying force, is increasingly weaponised. Falsehood spreads faster than fact, dividing communities and distorting reality. We live in an age of hyper-connection yet profound isolation. The algorithms flatter our biases and fracture our public squares. And as trust collapses, so does our shared sense of truth – one of the greatest losses a society can suffer. The defining challenge of the twenty-first century is not simply who wields the most powerful technologies, but who guides them with the greatest wisdom. Our security, our prosperity, and our humanity depend on it. Our world is being remade. And for the first time, we are all at the heart of it. My Service must now operate in this new context too: not just expert on hostile states, terrorism, proliferation and more, but also fluent in technology, able to anticipate the second and third order effects of advances that reshape the world in minutes not months. And as China will be a central part of the global transformation taking place this century, it is essential that we, as MI6, continue to inform the government’s understanding of China’s rise and the implications for UK national security. I’m going to break with tradition and won’t give you a global threat tour, but will focus here on Putin’s Russia. We all continue to face the menace of an aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia, seeking to subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO. I find it harrowing that hundreds of thousands have died, with the toll mounting every day, because of Putin’s historical distortions and his compromised desire for respect. He is dragging out negotiations and shifting the cost of war onto his own population. But Putin should be in no doubt, our support is enduring. The pressure we apply on Ukraine’s behalf will be sustained. Because it is fundamental not just to European sovereignty and security but to global stability. Alongside the grinding war, Russia is testing us in the grey zone with tactics that are just below the threshold of war. It’s important to understand their attempts to bully, fearmonger and manipulate, because it affects us all. I am talking about: Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure. Drones buzzing airports and bases. Aggressive activity in our seas, above and below the waves. State-sponsored arson and sabotage. Propaganda and influence operations that crack open and exploit fractures within societies. Countering this activity is the work of intelligence and security services across Europe and the globe. And as the Foreign Secretary made clear in a speech last week, the UK is defending itself against this Russian information warfare – sanctioning Russian media outlets pushing Kremlin narratives. The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in this Russian approach to international engagement; and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus. So, how should we respond? It’s not enough now just to understand the world. We must shape it too. MI6 is well-positioned to respond to these threats and wider global instability. And we will continue to evolve, just as we have throughout our long history. The UK government has invested in our intelligence agencies and we are all using our unique powers to keep the British people safe. Our ‘open and connected’ partnerships across the UK Intelligence Community, with HMGCC, NSSIF and the wider tech ecosystem in the UK will become even more important – because in the digital battleground, no single organisation can prevail alone. As a global agency, MI6’s inbuilt strength is our partners and our people. The risks I have set out require us to work ever more closely with our colleagues in MI5, GCHQ and in defence and diplomacy. But also with our Five Eyes partners, with the E3, the EU, NATO, those across the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific and beyond. And with many valued partners whose identity needs to remain secret. Together, we integrate our diverse talent, data and tools to meet the threat. AI is a domain in which we will excel, using the technology to augment, not replace, our human skills. Every digital trace, every byte of data, every algorithmic decision has implications for the safety of the lives of the courageous people who work with us as officers and agents, and for the UK’s strategic advantage. Mastery of technology will infuse everything we do. Not just in our labs, but in the field, in our tradecraft, and even more importantly, in the mindset of every officer. We will become as comfortable with lines of code as we are with human sources, as fluent in Python as we are in multiple other languages. Under my leadership, MI6 will continue to attract Britain’s best and most creative minds: linguists and data scientists, case officers and engineers, behavioural experts and technologists. We need people who walk in the shoes and get in the heads of our adversaries. We need people who think differently, challenge assumptions, and act decisively. All can thrive and make a difference at MI6. At an operational level, we will sharpen our edge and impact with audacity, tapping into – if you like – our historical SOE instincts. We’re at our best when we’re hustling to make things happen, because our intelligence is most valuable when it changes reality on the ground. We will take calculated risks, where the prize is significant and the national interest clear. We will never stoop to the tactics of our opponents. But we must seek to outplay them. In every domain. In every way. So intelligence must drive action. Action must deliver advantage. And advantage must serve Britain’s security and prosperity. But at the core, our deeper contribution is also our simplest – how we unlock human agency. Our fast-paced, tech and threat-infused world now generates more heat than light. As nations retrench and rearm, we are losing opportunities to listen to what’s really going on. I’ve seen time and again throughout my career, that this is where MI6 matters most: we listen and we hear. We understand, because we take time to learn languages and cultures, complex technical and historical detail, immerse ourselves in what’s really driving the situation. Across the globe, right now, our officers are finding people with the courage to step forward, and they are taking time to sit and listen to break these tightening cycles of violence. They listen for nuance, for connection, for opportunity. Over the years, I’ve listened to terrorists who have told us how to defuse the bomb because they know that more violence won’t help. To proliferators and smugglers who’ve told us where to find the dangerous material, motivated to protect their children’s future. To people trapped in authoritarian regimes who know, deep down, that their humanity is being chipped away – and that telling us what’s really going on is an important release, allowing us all to find better ways to navigate our changing world. So, we will work with our agents. And we will continue to engage directly, and with respect, with states and organisation currently working against us. Away from the glare of the media, we will use MI6’s convening power wherever we can to make a material difference, bringing parties together to defuse tensions. But the response to the increasing risks we face won’t be delivered by the UK intelligence community alone. Wider society has a role to play too. That includes work taking place in schools across the country so our children don’t get duped by information manipulation. Let’s all check sources, consider evidence, and be alive to those algorithms that trigger intense reactions, like fear. It also means everyone in society really understanding the world we are in – a world where terrorists plot against us, where our enemies fearmonger, bully and manipulate, and the front line is everywhere. Online, on our streets, in our supply chains, in the minds and on the screens of our citizens. We must all stand together against this. As we do today with our friends in Australia after the shocking antisemitic terrorist attack this weekend. My thoughts -and those of my whole organisation – are with the family, friends and loved ones of the victims. Light will always win over darkness. In rising to meet these challenges we, in MI6, will remain anchored to our values: courage, creativity, respect and integrity. And to our principles: accountability and trust are not constraints on our work; they are the foundations of our legitimacy with the British public. Recently, I had the privilege of meeting and thanking a foreign agent who has worked with us for decades, taking extraordinary risks to help keep the UK safe. I asked why. They said simply, ‘Your values. Your integrity and respect. None of us have a future without them’. This moment reinforced to me that we must remain a very human agency. And so, to sustain that trust, MI6 will continue to be more open. Not for the sake of visibility, but because it matters – and as my MI5 counterpart Sir Ken McCallum said recently - because it is a strength. We will continue the practice of speaking publicly, broaden our channels of engagement, and sustain our focus on attracting the most diverse talent to join our Service. Transparency does not mean revealing what must remain secret. It means showing the British people who we are, what we stand for, and why our work matters. We need your trust and support for the difficult and often dangerous work our agents pursue, every day of the year. In an age of uncertainty, one constant remains: the choices made by human beings still determine the shape of the world. Yes, technology can illuminate possibilities: but information requires judgement; complexity demands clarity; and only people can decide which path to follow. The United Kingdom’s global voice has never rested solely on strength – it has rested on trust, principle, and the ability to understand others as well as ourselves. That is also the essence of intelligence: not simply knowing the world, but interpreting it through a uniquely human lens. Ours is the quiet service, the hidden service. It is one rooted in a profound belief that when human beings act with purpose and integrity, they can steady a faltering world. When the Berlin Wall fell, it was our shared belief in freedom that carried Europe forward. When acts of terror targeted open societies, it was intelligence, cooperation and resolve that preserved them. And when adversaries blur fact and falsehood, our task is to defend the space where truth can still stand. As we step into the future, the tools at our disposal will evolve. But what will always matter most is the human element – the person who stands in the shadows and says: this is right, and that is wrong. That choice – the exercise of human agency – has shaped our world before, and it will shape it again. Because in the end, it is not what we can do that defines us, but what we choose to do. Thank you. Published 15 December 2025

John Sweeney

42,257 views • 7 months ago

Very powerful testimony by dr. Sabine Hazan "Thank you, senator. It's an honor to be here. The microbiome, our microbes in our guts, is our immunity and tells the story and will tell the story of COVID nineteen. And this is why as a gastroenterologist, I stepped into the pandemic. Through my experience, I will show you how difficult it was to conduct research and publish when the research goes against the national public health narrative." "Interference and delay in research happened and affects all of us. In early twenty twenty, my research genetic sequencing laboratory was the first lab to document the entire sequence of the virus in the stools as opposed to the PCR which is just a little piece of the virus." "We discovered that the virus lingered in the stools for up to forty five days. It took six months to publish this publication at a time where everybody needed to know that it was in your stools. My lab also showed that COVID nineteen in the stools was killed by hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin." "But unfortunately, azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine killed the microbiome. So therefore, vitamin c, d, and zinc was added. Three protocols were submitted to the FDA from our findings. Three studies were also put into in full transparencies to help doctors more effectively treat COVID because I knew data that nobody knew. 04/02/2020, FDA gave us an exempt letter for doing a clinical trial." "In other words, we did not need to do a clinical trial on hydroxychloroquine, z pack, vitamin c, d, and zinc as treatment or hydroxychloroquine, vitamin c, d, and zinc as prophylaxis. April 4, somebody must have called the FDA and said, I got another letter saying, I'm sorry, doctor Hazan. Exemption is denied. You must do a full on clinical trial. Here's the letter." "System pressures delayed us, and we got a green light to start recruiting by May 2020. By then, the media created fear around hydroxychloroquine. It was impossible to recruit. This drug was safely given for years for arthritis and lupus with no problems. My clinical trials companies were also banned and censored from advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter." "Remember, I do clinical trials for a living and never as a clinical trial doctor have I not been able to advertise to recruit for a trial on social media. I kept collecting stools of patients and noticed that patients with severe COVID had a certain bacteria that was missing compared to people that were highly exposed to COVID but never got COVID. That bacteria is called bifidobacteria. Bifidobacteria is an important and key microbe for immunity. It represents your trillion dollar industry of probiotics." "In fact, when you turn the bottle and you see the ingredient, it says bifidobacteria. It is present in newborns. This is why your newborns did not get a problem from COVID at the beginning, and it is absent in old people. The process of aging is loss of bifidobacteria. We published this paper, the lost microbes of COVID nineteen." "It took eight months to publish. If you follow the bifidobacteria like I did, you will notice, and we did notice anyways, that vitamin c actually increases bifidobacteria. This is why vitamin c is important when you take when you take care of viruses and, you know, you've all experienced taking vitamin c for a cold." "Well, we published this data where we showed vitamin c, if we give it to patients before and after, it increased the bifidobacteria. Ivermectin was also an interesting drug because Ivermectin, we noticed, also increased the bifidobacteria within twenty four hours of taking it." "Why Ivermectin? If you look at what Ivermectin is, it is a fermented product of a bacteria that is similar to bifidobacteria. In fact, they're in the same continent of microbes. They live. They're like sisters, brothers in the microbiome." "So I published. I knew that ivermectin increased bifidobacteria, but I said, nah. I can't go out there and start publishing that. That's gonna be too controversial. So I published a hypothesis that maybe what I was observing on the frontline treating patients with COVID, noticing that their oxygen saturation was increasing from ivermectin, was basically maybe ivermectin increased bifidobacteria." "The hypothesis on ivermectin was the most read hypothesis in the pandemic and was retracted after eight months of being on. When we cannot make a hypothesis, this is not science. December twenty twenty, at the same time that I was treating patients with COVID, I began collecting stools of my colleagues that were at home and started going into the hospital. And I said, can I get your stools before and after you get vaccinated? Because to me, this new technology of vaccines, I wanted to see what it was doing on the microbiome." "I discovered that messenger RNA vaccines killed the bifidobacteria. I knew I would never be able to publish this because it goes against the narrative. So I submitted it to my college, the American College of Gastroenterology, and presented it in October 2022. This abstract won a research award at the American College of Gastro beating 6,000 abstracts. That's from academic centers like Harvard and Mayo Clinic and MD Anderson." "This abstract got the attention of 18,000 GI doctors who all of a sudden started realizing maybe killing bifidobacteria is why I got COVID after my vaccine to begin with. Worse than that, and another abstract we presented, was the persistent damage of bifidobacteria from the vaccine." "What is going on here that the vaccine continues to kill the bifidobacteria? At the same time, we presented a link between loss of bifidobacteria and Crohn's disease, loss of bifidobacteria in Lyme disease, and loss of bifidobacteria in invasive cancer. It is nearly impossible to publish data that goes against the national public health narrative." "If doctors cannot publish the data, they cannot find solution to fix the problems. So in conclusion, I will finish with showing this. This represents clinical trials that I've done for pharmaceutical companies prior to COVID. Amongst them are vaccine studies. Yes." "I brought vaccines to the market. Proton pump inhibitors, cardiac drugs, biologics for all sorts of conditions. First, postpartum depression drug, drugs that never made it to the market because they killed people. Clinical trials doctors follow guidelines that allows the industry to provide safe drugs. These guidelines were not followed during the pandemic." "And because of that, everyone is affected. COVID should have been a time where humanity joined forces together and doctors needed to come together. It's a shame that it didn't happen. Interference with research affects all of us. This should not be political." "Science is a story that evolves. It's a multitude of experiments that allow us to see medicine, to give hopes to patients. Skepticism, challenging the current state of knowledge. Having an open mind must be allowed if we have any hope of moving science forward. What I saw this pandemic was not science. Thank you."
8:56

Very powerful testimony by dr. Sabine Hazan "Thank you, senator. It's an honor to be here. The microbiome, our microbes in our guts, is our immunity and tells the story and will tell the story of COVID nineteen. And this is why as a gastroenterologist, I stepped into the pandemic. Through my experience, I will show you how difficult it was to conduct research and publish when the research goes against the national public health narrative." "Interference and delay in research happened and affects all of us. In early twenty twenty, my research genetic sequencing laboratory was the first lab to document the entire sequence of the virus in the stools as opposed to the PCR which is just a little piece of the virus." "We discovered that the virus lingered in the stools for up to forty five days. It took six months to publish this publication at a time where everybody needed to know that it was in your stools. My lab also showed that COVID nineteen in the stools was killed by hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin." "But unfortunately, azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine killed the microbiome. So therefore, vitamin c, d, and zinc was added. Three protocols were submitted to the FDA from our findings. Three studies were also put into in full transparencies to help doctors more effectively treat COVID because I knew data that nobody knew. 04/02/2020, FDA gave us an exempt letter for doing a clinical trial." "In other words, we did not need to do a clinical trial on hydroxychloroquine, z pack, vitamin c, d, and zinc as treatment or hydroxychloroquine, vitamin c, d, and zinc as prophylaxis. April 4, somebody must have called the FDA and said, I got another letter saying, I'm sorry, doctor Hazan. Exemption is denied. You must do a full on clinical trial. Here's the letter." "System pressures delayed us, and we got a green light to start recruiting by May 2020. By then, the media created fear around hydroxychloroquine. It was impossible to recruit. This drug was safely given for years for arthritis and lupus with no problems. My clinical trials companies were also banned and censored from advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter." "Remember, I do clinical trials for a living and never as a clinical trial doctor have I not been able to advertise to recruit for a trial on social media. I kept collecting stools of patients and noticed that patients with severe COVID had a certain bacteria that was missing compared to people that were highly exposed to COVID but never got COVID. That bacteria is called bifidobacteria. Bifidobacteria is an important and key microbe for immunity. It represents your trillion dollar industry of probiotics." "In fact, when you turn the bottle and you see the ingredient, it says bifidobacteria. It is present in newborns. This is why your newborns did not get a problem from COVID at the beginning, and it is absent in old people. The process of aging is loss of bifidobacteria. We published this paper, the lost microbes of COVID nineteen." "It took eight months to publish. If you follow the bifidobacteria like I did, you will notice, and we did notice anyways, that vitamin c actually increases bifidobacteria. This is why vitamin c is important when you take when you take care of viruses and, you know, you've all experienced taking vitamin c for a cold." "Well, we published this data where we showed vitamin c, if we give it to patients before and after, it increased the bifidobacteria. Ivermectin was also an interesting drug because Ivermectin, we noticed, also increased the bifidobacteria within twenty four hours of taking it." "Why Ivermectin? If you look at what Ivermectin is, it is a fermented product of a bacteria that is similar to bifidobacteria. In fact, they're in the same continent of microbes. They live. They're like sisters, brothers in the microbiome." "So I published. I knew that ivermectin increased bifidobacteria, but I said, nah. I can't go out there and start publishing that. That's gonna be too controversial. So I published a hypothesis that maybe what I was observing on the frontline treating patients with COVID, noticing that their oxygen saturation was increasing from ivermectin, was basically maybe ivermectin increased bifidobacteria." "The hypothesis on ivermectin was the most read hypothesis in the pandemic and was retracted after eight months of being on. When we cannot make a hypothesis, this is not science. December twenty twenty, at the same time that I was treating patients with COVID, I began collecting stools of my colleagues that were at home and started going into the hospital. And I said, can I get your stools before and after you get vaccinated? Because to me, this new technology of vaccines, I wanted to see what it was doing on the microbiome." "I discovered that messenger RNA vaccines killed the bifidobacteria. I knew I would never be able to publish this because it goes against the narrative. So I submitted it to my college, the American College of Gastroenterology, and presented it in October 2022. This abstract won a research award at the American College of Gastro beating 6,000 abstracts. That's from academic centers like Harvard and Mayo Clinic and MD Anderson." "This abstract got the attention of 18,000 GI doctors who all of a sudden started realizing maybe killing bifidobacteria is why I got COVID after my vaccine to begin with. Worse than that, and another abstract we presented, was the persistent damage of bifidobacteria from the vaccine." "What is going on here that the vaccine continues to kill the bifidobacteria? At the same time, we presented a link between loss of bifidobacteria and Crohn's disease, loss of bifidobacteria in Lyme disease, and loss of bifidobacteria in invasive cancer. It is nearly impossible to publish data that goes against the national public health narrative." "If doctors cannot publish the data, they cannot find solution to fix the problems. So in conclusion, I will finish with showing this. This represents clinical trials that I've done for pharmaceutical companies prior to COVID. Amongst them are vaccine studies. Yes." "I brought vaccines to the market. Proton pump inhibitors, cardiac drugs, biologics for all sorts of conditions. First, postpartum depression drug, drugs that never made it to the market because they killed people. Clinical trials doctors follow guidelines that allows the industry to provide safe drugs. These guidelines were not followed during the pandemic." "And because of that, everyone is affected. COVID should have been a time where humanity joined forces together and doctors needed to come together. It's a shame that it didn't happen. Interference with research affects all of us. This should not be political." "Science is a story that evolves. It's a multitude of experiments that allow us to see medicine, to give hopes to patients. Skepticism, challenging the current state of knowledge. Having an open mind must be allowed if we have any hope of moving science forward. What I saw this pandemic was not science. Thank you."

Camus

127,765 views • 1 year ago

Thermodynamic computing is here There is a new computing paradigm emerging from the noise, and its arrival may be as significant as the dawn of deep learning or the advent of cloud virtualization. A new company, Extropic, has just launched its first thermodynamic computer, a device they call a TSU, or Thermal Sampling Unit. While the web is already filling with deep technical dives, what’s more important for most of us is building a clear intuition for what this technology is, how it’s fundamentally different from anything that’s come before, and why it’s generating so much excitement. This isn’t just another chip; it’s a new way to think about computation itself. Seeing is Believing: Solving Puzzles in One Shot To understand what a TSU does, let’s look at two classic, notoriously difficult computer science problems: Sudoku and the Eight Queens problem. When you or I solve a Sudoku, we use a process of sequential logic, guess-and-check, and backtracking. We make an assumption, follow its logical conclusion, and if we hit a dead end, we erase and try again. A classical computer does the same, just much faster. A TSU, however, approaches this in a completely different way. Using a TSU simulator, one can “program” the problem by first clamping the known values—the clues already on the board. Then, you program in the constraints: no duplicate numbers in any row, column, or 3x3 square. With the problem thus defined, the TSU doesn’t “search” for a solution; it anneals one. In a single computational step, the solution simply emerges, backfilling all the empty squares correctly. The same principle applies to the Eight Queens problem, a challenge to place eight queens on a chessboard so that none can attack any other. This is a complex combinatorial problem with 92 distinct solutions. A classical computer would have to iteratively search for these. A TSU, by contrast, can be programmed with the constraints (the “anti-affinity” between queens on the same row, column, or diagonal) and then set to sample the “solution space.” In this context, a valid solution is one with a “problem energy” of zero. The TSU’s physical nature allows it to naturally find these zero-energy states. A simulation of this process shows the TSU discovering all 92 unique solutions, demonstrating its ability to not just find an answer, but to explore the entire landscape of all correct answers. This is a fundamentally new approach, one that bypasses the brute-force, iterative methods we’ve relied on for decades. The Physics of Computation: Using Noise, Not Fighting It This new power comes from a radical design philosophy. For the last 70 years, computing has been about one thing: order. We build chips that are deterministic, logical, and precise. The great enemy has always been noise, heat, and randomness. We spend billions on cooling and error correction to eliminate these very things. Quantum computing, in many ways, is the ultimate expression of this, requiring temperatures near absolute zero to eliminate all thermal noise and achieve quantum coherence. Thermodynamic computing is the polar opposite. It doesn’t fight the noise; it uses it. The TSU is built on the understanding that the natural, stochastic noise from “leaky” transistors—the very randomness we’ve tried to engineer out of existence—is itself a powerful computational resource. Think of it this way: a GPU, which is central to today’s AI, has to simulate noise. When a generative AI model creates a new image or sentence, it’s using complex algorithms to fake randomness. The TSU doesn’t need to fake it; it harnesses the actual physical randomness of thermodynamics. It is a piece of hardware that directly computes with probability. This makes it a hybrid, sitting somewhere between a purely analog computer (which might use light or sound waves to compute) and a digital GPU. It’s a physical device that leverages the laws of physics itself to find solutions, rather than just using logic gates to simulate them. From a Lost Hiker to a Million Bouncy Balls Perhaps the best way to build intuition is with a metaphor. Imagine that solving a complex optimization problem is like trying to find the lowest point of altitude in a 100-square-mile mountainous landscape. Classical computing, using an algorithm like gradient descent, is like being a single hiker dropped into this landscape at night. You have no map or satellite view. All you have is an altimeter and the sensation of the slope under your feet. You can only take one step at a time, always walking downhill, hoping you don’t get stuck in a small local valley when the true, lowest canyon is miles away. Thermodynamic computing is a completely different approach. It’s like having a million bouncy balls and a helicopter. You drop all million balls simultaneously across the entire 100-square-mile landscape. Then, you “turn on an earthquake,” shaking the entire system. The balls bounce and jostle, but as the shaking (the “annealing”) subsides, where do they all end up? They naturally settle into the lowest points. The balls that collect in the deepest valley represent the optimal solution. The TSU is, in essence, a physical device for dropping those million balls at once and letting the laws of thermodynamics find the lowest “energy” state for you, all at the same time. Beyond Puzzles: The Real-World Impact This is far more than just a clever way to solve brain teasers. This ability to instantly find the lowest energy state for a complex, constrained system has staggering real-world applications. One of the most immediate is protein folding. Companies like Google’s DeepMind have made incredible progress with AI like AlphaFold, which predicts protein structures. But this is still a predictive model trained on existing data. A TSU could potentially solve the folding problem directly, treating the protein as a system of atomic affinities and repulsions and finding its most stable, lowest-energy configuration almost instantaneously. This could revolutionize drug discovery and materials science. An even more profound possibility lies in nuclear fusion. One of the greatest engineering challenges in history is controlling the superheated plasma within a tokamak reactor. This requires shaping unimaginably complex magnetic containment fields in real-time to prevent the plasma from touching the reactor walls. This is a real-time optimization problem so complex it’s currently beyond our capabilities. A TSU, however, could be fast enough. Its ability to compute with electricity itself, rather than abstracting the problem through layers of software, might allow it to update the magnetic fields fast enough to stabilize the fusion reaction. One could even imagine a future where thermodynamic computing elements are built directly into the tokamak’s walls, allowing the reactor to physically and intelligently react to the plasma’s state in real time. A ‘GPT-2 Moment’ for a New Era It’s easy to become numb to hype, but what we are witnessing with the TSU feels different. This is what you might call a “GPT-2 moment.” For those who were there, GPT-2 was the first generative AI model that wasn’t just a toy; it was the first time you could play with it at home and see the spark of true generative intelligence. It was the precursor that pointed directly to the GPT-3 and ChatGPT revolution that has since changed the world. This TSU has that same feel. It’s the “SDK” for a new computing paradigm. This technology is as different from classical computing as quantum computing is, but with a critical difference: a team of 15 built this in two years, and it runs at room temperature on your desk. Quantum computing has seen decades of work and billions in funding, and it still hasn’t produced a commercially viable, scalable machine. The TSU is here now. Based on a two-decade-long career at the cutting edge of technology—from seeing the obvious future of virtualization in 2007 to an early conviction in deep learning and GPT—this has all the same hallmarks of a fundamental, world-changing shift. We are not just building faster calculators; we are learning to compute with the universe itself. Pay close attention to this. This is the next big thing.
18:01

Thermodynamic computing is here There is a new computing paradigm emerging from the noise, and its arrival may be as significant as the dawn of deep learning or the advent of cloud virtualization. A new company, Extropic, has just launched its first thermodynamic computer, a device they call a TSU, or Thermal Sampling Unit. While the web is already filling with deep technical dives, what’s more important for most of us is building a clear intuition for what this technology is, how it’s fundamentally different from anything that’s come before, and why it’s generating so much excitement. This isn’t just another chip; it’s a new way to think about computation itself. Seeing is Believing: Solving Puzzles in One Shot To understand what a TSU does, let’s look at two classic, notoriously difficult computer science problems: Sudoku and the Eight Queens problem. When you or I solve a Sudoku, we use a process of sequential logic, guess-and-check, and backtracking. We make an assumption, follow its logical conclusion, and if we hit a dead end, we erase and try again. A classical computer does the same, just much faster. A TSU, however, approaches this in a completely different way. Using a TSU simulator, one can “program” the problem by first clamping the known values—the clues already on the board. Then, you program in the constraints: no duplicate numbers in any row, column, or 3x3 square. With the problem thus defined, the TSU doesn’t “search” for a solution; it anneals one. In a single computational step, the solution simply emerges, backfilling all the empty squares correctly. The same principle applies to the Eight Queens problem, a challenge to place eight queens on a chessboard so that none can attack any other. This is a complex combinatorial problem with 92 distinct solutions. A classical computer would have to iteratively search for these. A TSU, by contrast, can be programmed with the constraints (the “anti-affinity” between queens on the same row, column, or diagonal) and then set to sample the “solution space.” In this context, a valid solution is one with a “problem energy” of zero. The TSU’s physical nature allows it to naturally find these zero-energy states. A simulation of this process shows the TSU discovering all 92 unique solutions, demonstrating its ability to not just find an answer, but to explore the entire landscape of all correct answers. This is a fundamentally new approach, one that bypasses the brute-force, iterative methods we’ve relied on for decades. The Physics of Computation: Using Noise, Not Fighting It This new power comes from a radical design philosophy. For the last 70 years, computing has been about one thing: order. We build chips that are deterministic, logical, and precise. The great enemy has always been noise, heat, and randomness. We spend billions on cooling and error correction to eliminate these very things. Quantum computing, in many ways, is the ultimate expression of this, requiring temperatures near absolute zero to eliminate all thermal noise and achieve quantum coherence. Thermodynamic computing is the polar opposite. It doesn’t fight the noise; it uses it. The TSU is built on the understanding that the natural, stochastic noise from “leaky” transistors—the very randomness we’ve tried to engineer out of existence—is itself a powerful computational resource. Think of it this way: a GPU, which is central to today’s AI, has to simulate noise. When a generative AI model creates a new image or sentence, it’s using complex algorithms to fake randomness. The TSU doesn’t need to fake it; it harnesses the actual physical randomness of thermodynamics. It is a piece of hardware that directly computes with probability. This makes it a hybrid, sitting somewhere between a purely analog computer (which might use light or sound waves to compute) and a digital GPU. It’s a physical device that leverages the laws of physics itself to find solutions, rather than just using logic gates to simulate them. From a Lost Hiker to a Million Bouncy Balls Perhaps the best way to build intuition is with a metaphor. Imagine that solving a complex optimization problem is like trying to find the lowest point of altitude in a 100-square-mile mountainous landscape. Classical computing, using an algorithm like gradient descent, is like being a single hiker dropped into this landscape at night. You have no map or satellite view. All you have is an altimeter and the sensation of the slope under your feet. You can only take one step at a time, always walking downhill, hoping you don’t get stuck in a small local valley when the true, lowest canyon is miles away. Thermodynamic computing is a completely different approach. It’s like having a million bouncy balls and a helicopter. You drop all million balls simultaneously across the entire 100-square-mile landscape. Then, you “turn on an earthquake,” shaking the entire system. The balls bounce and jostle, but as the shaking (the “annealing”) subsides, where do they all end up? They naturally settle into the lowest points. The balls that collect in the deepest valley represent the optimal solution. The TSU is, in essence, a physical device for dropping those million balls at once and letting the laws of thermodynamics find the lowest “energy” state for you, all at the same time. Beyond Puzzles: The Real-World Impact This is far more than just a clever way to solve brain teasers. This ability to instantly find the lowest energy state for a complex, constrained system has staggering real-world applications. One of the most immediate is protein folding. Companies like Google’s DeepMind have made incredible progress with AI like AlphaFold, which predicts protein structures. But this is still a predictive model trained on existing data. A TSU could potentially solve the folding problem directly, treating the protein as a system of atomic affinities and repulsions and finding its most stable, lowest-energy configuration almost instantaneously. This could revolutionize drug discovery and materials science. An even more profound possibility lies in nuclear fusion. One of the greatest engineering challenges in history is controlling the superheated plasma within a tokamak reactor. This requires shaping unimaginably complex magnetic containment fields in real-time to prevent the plasma from touching the reactor walls. This is a real-time optimization problem so complex it’s currently beyond our capabilities. A TSU, however, could be fast enough. Its ability to compute with electricity itself, rather than abstracting the problem through layers of software, might allow it to update the magnetic fields fast enough to stabilize the fusion reaction. One could even imagine a future where thermodynamic computing elements are built directly into the tokamak’s walls, allowing the reactor to physically and intelligently react to the plasma’s state in real time. A ‘GPT-2 Moment’ for a New Era It’s easy to become numb to hype, but what we are witnessing with the TSU feels different. This is what you might call a “GPT-2 moment.” For those who were there, GPT-2 was the first generative AI model that wasn’t just a toy; it was the first time you could play with it at home and see the spark of true generative intelligence. It was the precursor that pointed directly to the GPT-3 and ChatGPT revolution that has since changed the world. This TSU has that same feel. It’s the “SDK” for a new computing paradigm. This technology is as different from classical computing as quantum computing is, but with a critical difference: a team of 15 built this in two years, and it runs at room temperature on your desk. Quantum computing has seen decades of work and billions in funding, and it still hasn’t produced a commercially viable, scalable machine. The TSU is here now. Based on a two-decade-long career at the cutting edge of technology—from seeing the obvious future of virtualization in 2007 to an early conviction in deep learning and GPT—this has all the same hallmarks of a fundamental, world-changing shift. We are not just building faster calculators; we are learning to compute with the universe itself. Pay close attention to this. This is the next big thing.

David Shapiro (L/0)

83,649 views • 8 months ago

US Education Department Contractor Overcharged Taxpayers While Spending Millions On Executive Salaries As student math and reading scores declined, the American Institute of Research charged 50% in indirect costs and paid its CEO over $2 million by alex gutentag and Michael Shellenberger Over the last few weeks, the media and Democrats have been lambasting President Donald Trump for cutting the Department of Education’s research budget. In particular, the media criticized the Trump administration for cutting a contractor’s research into support services for students with disabilities who are nearing graduation. But it’s not clear that the research was necessary or successful, and there is already both state and federal funding aimed at helping students with disabilities to develop life skills and plans for the future. And now Public has obtained invoices showing that the Department’s contractor for the research in question, American Institute for Research (AIR), had significantly overcharged the Department in so-called indirect costs. The invoice is from November 18, 2024, and shows AIR billing the Department $411,961.35 for the month of October 2024. Of that money, $214,952.74 was in “total indirects.” AIR charged an additional $26,950.74 as a 7% fee. The invoice shows that the cumulative amount that AIR had billed the Department of Education was $10,957,275.73, of which $4,993,376.12 was total indirects and $716,831.18 was total additional fees. A second invoice is from January 15, 2025, and shows AIR billing the Department $60,913.72 for the month of December 2024. Of that money, $29,685.23 was in total indirects. AIR charged an additional $3,985.01 as a 7% fee. The invoice shows that the cumulative amount that AIR had billed the Department of Education was $11,076,493.79, of which $5,028,446.77 was total indirects and $724,630.48 was total additional fees. In response to questions from Public, an AIR spokesperson said, “AIR’s indirect rates are similar to those of other social and behavioral research organizations and we have always abided by our approved rates. For government contractors, indirect costs include such costs as information technology, data security, and compliance and reporting.” However, 50% in indirect fees is widely considered excessive. The National Institutes of Health recently required that its contractors lower indirect costs to 15% to reduce widespread overcharging. Indeed, when asked about the invoice, a spokesperson for the Department of Education condemned the high fees. “Contracts with indirect rates over 50% take gross advantage of taxpayer dollars, perverting the reason the contracts exist — our students,” said Department spokesperson Madison Biedermann. “Incoming leadership will no longer allow these unacceptable terms.” According to AIR’s IRS 990 form, the total compensation of AIR’s chief executive, David Myers, in the most recent year available, 2023, was $2,241,374. “At the end of 2023, David Myers finished a 14-year tenure as AIR’s President and Chief Executive Officer,” said the AIR spokesperson. “His compensation for his final year included a retention payment. The salary for our current President and CEO is lower and in line with what other non-profit organizations of our size and type pay their chief executives.” However, AIR’s tax forms showed that Myers earned $2,294,637 in 2022 and $1,145,400 in 2021. Jessica Heppen is the current president and CEO. In 2023, she earned $685,060 as president. Neither Heppen nor Myers responded to Public’s request for comment. AIR’s 990 form shows other high salaries for staff and fees for board members. AIR’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, earned $931,610 in 2023, and its CFO earned $1,145,400 in 2022. A member of the AIR Board, Robert Boruch, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, received $80,250 in 2023 for just 2 hours of work per week, which is $772 per hour. While nonprofit board members typically donate their time, 14 of AIR’s board members received hundreds of dollars per hour for their service. None responded to requests by Public for comment. AIR’s fees should be considered in the broader context of declining student performance and AIR’s role to provide research that improves student performance. Today, only 31% of fourth graders and only 30% of eighth graders are reading at or above proficiency levels, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In eighth grade reading, 33% of students scored “below basic,” the highest percentage recorded in the NAEP’s history. Congress established the Education Department in 1979 “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” Student performance has declined across the board over the last 10 years. While Covid school closures significantly worsened them, math and reading scores declined for fourth- and eighth-graders nationwide from 2014 to 2024. AIR appears to be partly responsible. It gave a favorable evaluation to Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study curriculum, which used elements of the now-debunked “whole language” approach to reading instead of systematic phonics instruction. Under the whole language approach, teachers taught children to memorize whole words and use guessing strategies instead of sounding out individual sounds in unfamiliar words. The failure of the whole language approach was precisely why the Department of Education hires groups like AIR. The goal of research is to discover which teaching methods work and which don’t before schools adopt them. That didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite did. The result was a whole generation of children robbed of fundamental literacy. “It is absolutely inaccurate to say we ‘gave a favorable evaluation’ to Units of Study,” said AIR. But the evaluation was clearly positive. Implementation of the curriculum, AIR’s report stated, “is associated with improvements in ELA [English Language Arts] achievement starting in the second year of implementation, and in schools that opt to continue with the approach long term, the magnitude of the effects grow larger over time.” And even AIR noted, in its email to Public, “We found no positive effect in the first year of implementation, then saw positive effects in subsequent years for some schools.” Other Department contractors had much lower indirect rates. Why was AIR able to charge so much? If you're not already a subscriber, please subscribe now to support Public's award-winning investigative reporting, read the rest of the article, and watch the full video!
6:40

US Education Department Contractor Overcharged Taxpayers While Spending Millions On Executive Salaries As student math and reading scores declined, the American Institute of Research charged 50% in indirect costs and paid its CEO over $2 million by alex gutentag and Michael Shellenberger Over the last few weeks, the media and Democrats have been lambasting President Donald Trump for cutting the Department of Education’s research budget. In particular, the media criticized the Trump administration for cutting a contractor’s research into support services for students with disabilities who are nearing graduation. But it’s not clear that the research was necessary or successful, and there is already both state and federal funding aimed at helping students with disabilities to develop life skills and plans for the future. And now Public has obtained invoices showing that the Department’s contractor for the research in question, American Institute for Research (AIR), had significantly overcharged the Department in so-called indirect costs. The invoice is from November 18, 2024, and shows AIR billing the Department $411,961.35 for the month of October 2024. Of that money, $214,952.74 was in “total indirects.” AIR charged an additional $26,950.74 as a 7% fee. The invoice shows that the cumulative amount that AIR had billed the Department of Education was $10,957,275.73, of which $4,993,376.12 was total indirects and $716,831.18 was total additional fees. A second invoice is from January 15, 2025, and shows AIR billing the Department $60,913.72 for the month of December 2024. Of that money, $29,685.23 was in total indirects. AIR charged an additional $3,985.01 as a 7% fee. The invoice shows that the cumulative amount that AIR had billed the Department of Education was $11,076,493.79, of which $5,028,446.77 was total indirects and $724,630.48 was total additional fees. In response to questions from Public, an AIR spokesperson said, “AIR’s indirect rates are similar to those of other social and behavioral research organizations and we have always abided by our approved rates. For government contractors, indirect costs include such costs as information technology, data security, and compliance and reporting.” However, 50% in indirect fees is widely considered excessive. The National Institutes of Health recently required that its contractors lower indirect costs to 15% to reduce widespread overcharging. Indeed, when asked about the invoice, a spokesperson for the Department of Education condemned the high fees. “Contracts with indirect rates over 50% take gross advantage of taxpayer dollars, perverting the reason the contracts exist — our students,” said Department spokesperson Madison Biedermann. “Incoming leadership will no longer allow these unacceptable terms.” According to AIR’s IRS 990 form, the total compensation of AIR’s chief executive, David Myers, in the most recent year available, 2023, was $2,241,374. “At the end of 2023, David Myers finished a 14-year tenure as AIR’s President and Chief Executive Officer,” said the AIR spokesperson. “His compensation for his final year included a retention payment. The salary for our current President and CEO is lower and in line with what other non-profit organizations of our size and type pay their chief executives.” However, AIR’s tax forms showed that Myers earned $2,294,637 in 2022 and $1,145,400 in 2021. Jessica Heppen is the current president and CEO. In 2023, she earned $685,060 as president. Neither Heppen nor Myers responded to Public’s request for comment. AIR’s 990 form shows other high salaries for staff and fees for board members. AIR’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, earned $931,610 in 2023, and its CFO earned $1,145,400 in 2022. A member of the AIR Board, Robert Boruch, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, received $80,250 in 2023 for just 2 hours of work per week, which is $772 per hour. While nonprofit board members typically donate their time, 14 of AIR’s board members received hundreds of dollars per hour for their service. None responded to requests by Public for comment. AIR’s fees should be considered in the broader context of declining student performance and AIR’s role to provide research that improves student performance. Today, only 31% of fourth graders and only 30% of eighth graders are reading at or above proficiency levels, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In eighth grade reading, 33% of students scored “below basic,” the highest percentage recorded in the NAEP’s history. Congress established the Education Department in 1979 “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” Student performance has declined across the board over the last 10 years. While Covid school closures significantly worsened them, math and reading scores declined for fourth- and eighth-graders nationwide from 2014 to 2024. AIR appears to be partly responsible. It gave a favorable evaluation to Lucy Calkins’ Units of Study curriculum, which used elements of the now-debunked “whole language” approach to reading instead of systematic phonics instruction. Under the whole language approach, teachers taught children to memorize whole words and use guessing strategies instead of sounding out individual sounds in unfamiliar words. The failure of the whole language approach was precisely why the Department of Education hires groups like AIR. The goal of research is to discover which teaching methods work and which don’t before schools adopt them. That didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite did. The result was a whole generation of children robbed of fundamental literacy. “It is absolutely inaccurate to say we ‘gave a favorable evaluation’ to Units of Study,” said AIR. But the evaluation was clearly positive. Implementation of the curriculum, AIR’s report stated, “is associated with improvements in ELA [English Language Arts] achievement starting in the second year of implementation, and in schools that opt to continue with the approach long term, the magnitude of the effects grow larger over time.” And even AIR noted, in its email to Public, “We found no positive effect in the first year of implementation, then saw positive effects in subsequent years for some schools.” Other Department contractors had much lower indirect rates. Why was AIR able to charge so much? If you're not already a subscriber, please subscribe now to support Public's award-winning investigative reporting, read the rest of the article, and watch the full video!

Michael Shellenberger

138,480 views • 1 year ago

TOPIC # 94: LET'S CONQUER THE "ENEMY"! Where is our enemy? Do we have an enemy? Why I always fail? Why people always against me? This is an important question we need to ask ourselves. Many people tend to see enemies only in the outside world, overlooking the internal struggles we face within ourselves. To truly improve our relationships and make a positive impact on the world, we must first conquer our own selfishness, doubts, timidity, greed, anger, ignorance, and arrogance. By addressing these internal "enemies," we can approach the outside world with greater peace and efficiency. Today in the Pi Network, we often demand OM for KYC, migration or OM or money. However, we must understand that merely demanding something will not help us achieve our goals. It’s similar to a child wanting candy; they may resort to various tactics to threaten their parents. If the parents know how to educate their children, they will not give in to the child’s cries. The same principle applies to the Pi Network. Only when we conquer our internal “enemies” can we fully understand the vision and mission of the Pi Network. When we grasp this understanding, we will firmly support all strategies and actions related to CT. If you don’t understand the meaning of CT, it is wise to follow the guidance from the Global GCV CT team, as we have over 30 experienced professionals with collective wisdom. I understand that the GCV community may be struggling to grasp our strategic change following the launch of the Open Network. The ecosystems and the exchange markets seem to be in opposition, but in reality, they are like siblings—one may be older, but both come from the same parents. Today, we emphasize that the exchange market is essential for a long-term sustainable ecosystem. When we talk about the ecosystem, we refer to two main components: the technical part and the economic part. The CT (Core Team) is focused on the technical aspects, such as coding, developing 100 Dapps, and implementing the Know Your Business (KYB) procedures. Meanwhile, the Pioneers are working on value and pricing to ensure the healthy development of the ecosystem. In this analogy, the CT is like the hardware, while the Pioneers are akin to the software. Just as you need both hardware and software to run a computer, we need both components for our ecosystem. During the enclosed mainnet, we worked hard to establish the GCV price at $314,159. This success is reflected in the source code. Now, we need all ecosystem participants to agree on a single price so that all Pioneers can use Pi to purchase products and pay for services using full Pi payments. To achieve this, we must stabilize Pi as a stablecoin. How can we gain global recognition for GCV? The answer lies in the exchange market. No matter how much GCV data we produce, the outside world cannot see it or acknowledge it. This is why our call for Pi buyback is critical for ecosystem development. I have noticed considerable resistance towards the buyback. After investigating those who oppose it, I found that many of them come from other cryptocurrency backgrounds, and some Pioneers have colluded with them to mislead others. Their goal appears to be preventing Pi from successfully reaching GCV on the exchange market. This is reflected in the choice of the song "Enemy" from the series Arcane: League of Legends for our second conference promotional video. The song brilliantly captures themes of rivalry, betrayal, and personal growth. It speaks to the conflicts we face with others and the battles we fight within ourselves. At its core, "Enemy" focuses on relationships—with others and oneself. It addresses dealing with doubters and the inner voice that sometimes breeds self-doubt, while also conveying a message of hope: overcoming these challenges is possible. Music has therapeutic effects, as modern neurophysiological research indicates that it directly impacts the nervous system, influencing the regulation of internal organs and bodily functions. Different pieces of music, each with unique rhythms, speeds, pitches, and timbres, can have calming, energizing, analgesic effects, as well as regulate heart rate and lower blood pressure. I urge all Pioneers: if you want our OM to succeed with the GCV price, please actively share our information everywhere, especially the promotional video and messages for the 2nd Global Pioneers Conference. The music has the power to awaken many pioneers from deep within their hearts.This conference is not only for GCV community but for all Pi Network community or even non-users from Pi Network. The more you disseminate our message, the closer we will get to achieving your financial freedom goals. You may not fully understand our strategy right now, but if you choose to follow our guidance, you will see results. Trusting in a visionary team is crucial, as unity leads to success! Are you ready, Global Pioneers? We are excited to announce that our 2nd Global Pioneers Conference will be held on May 25, 2025 at 7am USA EST. This time, our theme is: "Building a Sustainable Ecosystem with GCV – Merchants as the Foundation." The Four Critical Tasks are as follows: 1. Buy Back Pi By creating real demand, we can defend the value of Pi through purposeful participation. 2.Register Merchants on the Map of Pi Merchants are the heart of the Pi economy. Their visibility and acceptance are essential for growth. 3.Promote Bartering and Partial PI Payments Encouraging the real-world use of Pi, especially through flexible payment methods, demonstrates its true utility. 4.Repost with Purpose and Belief in GCV Through consistent, purpose-driven communication, we can spread awareness, inspire action, and strengthen our community. Together, these actions lay the foundation for a thriving, sustainable ecosystem where merchants play a crucial role in driving us forward. Let’s continue to act boldly and build a future that benefits us all. Doris Yin 🪷🪷🪷 Founder, Global GCV Movement P.S. All conference videos have been produced by my daughter, who recommends the use of earphones to attain the most impactful experience.
3:06

TOPIC # 94: LET'S CONQUER THE "ENEMY"! Where is our enemy? Do we have an enemy? Why I always fail? Why people always against me? This is an important question we need to ask ourselves. Many people tend to see enemies only in the outside world, overlooking the internal struggles we face within ourselves. To truly improve our relationships and make a positive impact on the world, we must first conquer our own selfishness, doubts, timidity, greed, anger, ignorance, and arrogance. By addressing these internal "enemies," we can approach the outside world with greater peace and efficiency. Today in the Pi Network, we often demand OM for KYC, migration or OM or money. However, we must understand that merely demanding something will not help us achieve our goals. It’s similar to a child wanting candy; they may resort to various tactics to threaten their parents. If the parents know how to educate their children, they will not give in to the child’s cries. The same principle applies to the Pi Network. Only when we conquer our internal “enemies” can we fully understand the vision and mission of the Pi Network. When we grasp this understanding, we will firmly support all strategies and actions related to CT. If you don’t understand the meaning of CT, it is wise to follow the guidance from the Global GCV CT team, as we have over 30 experienced professionals with collective wisdom. I understand that the GCV community may be struggling to grasp our strategic change following the launch of the Open Network. The ecosystems and the exchange markets seem to be in opposition, but in reality, they are like siblings—one may be older, but both come from the same parents. Today, we emphasize that the exchange market is essential for a long-term sustainable ecosystem. When we talk about the ecosystem, we refer to two main components: the technical part and the economic part. The CT (Core Team) is focused on the technical aspects, such as coding, developing 100 Dapps, and implementing the Know Your Business (KYB) procedures. Meanwhile, the Pioneers are working on value and pricing to ensure the healthy development of the ecosystem. In this analogy, the CT is like the hardware, while the Pioneers are akin to the software. Just as you need both hardware and software to run a computer, we need both components for our ecosystem. During the enclosed mainnet, we worked hard to establish the GCV price at $314,159. This success is reflected in the source code. Now, we need all ecosystem participants to agree on a single price so that all Pioneers can use Pi to purchase products and pay for services using full Pi payments. To achieve this, we must stabilize Pi as a stablecoin. How can we gain global recognition for GCV? The answer lies in the exchange market. No matter how much GCV data we produce, the outside world cannot see it or acknowledge it. This is why our call for Pi buyback is critical for ecosystem development. I have noticed considerable resistance towards the buyback. After investigating those who oppose it, I found that many of them come from other cryptocurrency backgrounds, and some Pioneers have colluded with them to mislead others. Their goal appears to be preventing Pi from successfully reaching GCV on the exchange market. This is reflected in the choice of the song "Enemy" from the series Arcane: League of Legends for our second conference promotional video. The song brilliantly captures themes of rivalry, betrayal, and personal growth. It speaks to the conflicts we face with others and the battles we fight within ourselves. At its core, "Enemy" focuses on relationships—with others and oneself. It addresses dealing with doubters and the inner voice that sometimes breeds self-doubt, while also conveying a message of hope: overcoming these challenges is possible. Music has therapeutic effects, as modern neurophysiological research indicates that it directly impacts the nervous system, influencing the regulation of internal organs and bodily functions. Different pieces of music, each with unique rhythms, speeds, pitches, and timbres, can have calming, energizing, analgesic effects, as well as regulate heart rate and lower blood pressure. I urge all Pioneers: if you want our OM to succeed with the GCV price, please actively share our information everywhere, especially the promotional video and messages for the 2nd Global Pioneers Conference. The music has the power to awaken many pioneers from deep within their hearts.This conference is not only for GCV community but for all Pi Network community or even non-users from Pi Network. The more you disseminate our message, the closer we will get to achieving your financial freedom goals. You may not fully understand our strategy right now, but if you choose to follow our guidance, you will see results. Trusting in a visionary team is crucial, as unity leads to success! Are you ready, Global Pioneers? We are excited to announce that our 2nd Global Pioneers Conference will be held on May 25, 2025 at 7am USA EST. This time, our theme is: "Building a Sustainable Ecosystem with GCV – Merchants as the Foundation." The Four Critical Tasks are as follows: 1. Buy Back Pi By creating real demand, we can defend the value of Pi through purposeful participation. 2.Register Merchants on the Map of Pi Merchants are the heart of the Pi economy. Their visibility and acceptance are essential for growth. 3.Promote Bartering and Partial PI Payments Encouraging the real-world use of Pi, especially through flexible payment methods, demonstrates its true utility. 4.Repost with Purpose and Belief in GCV Through consistent, purpose-driven communication, we can spread awareness, inspire action, and strengthen our community. Together, these actions lay the foundation for a thriving, sustainable ecosystem where merchants play a crucial role in driving us forward. Let’s continue to act boldly and build a future that benefits us all. Doris Yin 🪷🪷🪷 Founder, Global GCV Movement P.S. All conference videos have been produced by my daughter, who recommends the use of earphones to attain the most impactful experience.

Doris Yin 东方紫莲🪷

53,260 views • 1 year ago

With Y Combinator demo day coming up this weekend, I wanted to reflect on what I learned from YC W14, 10 years on + another company in: 1. The 7 minute espresso rule. Our first meeting with Sam Altman lasted just 7 minutes. The batch hadn’t even officially started yet and my cofounder Ryan Rowe and I drove down from Mountain View to the tiny SF YC outpost to meet him. Sam was making an espresso when we walked in. He opened with – “have you launched”? We said no, too many bugs. Our product Kimono Labs made it easy to just point and click to build a web scraper. Our promise was to get you an API in 60 seconds, without code. But it only worked on a handful of sites at the time. Sam pushed us to launched in 2 weeks. We debated. The espresso finished brewing, he picked it up, looked at us and said, “well, you better get going then and fix those bugs”. We left, launched in 2 weeks and learned one of the most important lessons that day - speed matters. Ship something you’re embarrassed by. 2. There are no experts. Ryan and I were not prepared for the rapid influx of user on launch day. It got tons of traffic on day 1 and we didn’t sleep in the next 48 hours bc servers and database kept crashing. We realized we weren’t the experts and needed to hire one. We went over to Michael Seibel for advice who smiled and told us that in the early days at SocialCam (Twitch) experts thought the streaming video problem was impossible. The answer wasn’t hiring an expert, but hiring someone young, capable and naïve enough to give it an earnest try. So we opted to just figure it out ourselves. 3. Messages in Pizza Boxes. Startups win through incredible customer service, then through product, not the other way around. Seibel told us how SocialCam’s streaming infrastructure went down while a key teammate was unreachable off-grid in a Tahoe cabin for the weekend. Normal people would have waited until Monday. Not Michael. He called a local pizza delivery place and asked the delivery person to send a large pizza with an urgent message in the box to the cabin. Their infrastructure was back up in hours. 4. The Twinkle can matter more than the TAM. Ambition matters just as much as practicality. Before demo day, we were struggling with the end of our pitch. We knew the value of our product, and had a fanatical and fast-growing user base, but the market size we calculated either seemed so ridiculously big that it was not plausible, or so narrow that it was equally silly. Paul Graham and Geoff Ralston sat with us and showed that us that if we can really pull it off at scale, it would be bigger than Google. PG suggested not talking about market size, but just making sure people could see the twinkle in our eyes when we talked about what you might be able to do with a structured copy of the internet that’s larger than Google’s. 5. You’re always at the Origin. Our demo day was successful beyond our wildest beliefs. Afterwards, Geoff drew a chart for us on a whiteboard. It was a hockey stick. He asked us where we thought we were. It was a rhetorical question. He said we were at the origin. Sam doubled down. When he invested in Kimono, he gave us a Zimbabwean Trillion dollar note (the result of extreme hyperinflation in Zimbabwe), as a cautionary reminder that the fundraising and valuation mean nothing. We have channeled this into our culture Arena with our ritual around neon shoelaces and a pair of neon track spikes hanging on the wall to remind us that we’re at the Olympic starting line, but we don’t have any medals yet. 6. High bandwidth discussions with users don’t happen over email. The “Collison installation” is part of YC lore. John Collison told us that talking to users live was essential because email and chat conversations were just not enough. We did 100s of Skype conversations with Kimono users + one power user Alex Chung, who I met this way, has become a close friend and even attended my wedding in India last year!
0:39

With Y Combinator demo day coming up this weekend, I wanted to reflect on what I learned from YC W14, 10 years on + another company in: 1. The 7 minute espresso rule. Our first meeting with Sam Altman lasted just 7 minutes. The batch hadn’t even officially started yet and my cofounder Ryan Rowe and I drove down from Mountain View to the tiny SF YC outpost to meet him. Sam was making an espresso when we walked in. He opened with – “have you launched”? We said no, too many bugs. Our product Kimono Labs made it easy to just point and click to build a web scraper. Our promise was to get you an API in 60 seconds, without code. But it only worked on a handful of sites at the time. Sam pushed us to launched in 2 weeks. We debated. The espresso finished brewing, he picked it up, looked at us and said, “well, you better get going then and fix those bugs”. We left, launched in 2 weeks and learned one of the most important lessons that day - speed matters. Ship something you’re embarrassed by. 2. There are no experts. Ryan and I were not prepared for the rapid influx of user on launch day. It got tons of traffic on day 1 and we didn’t sleep in the next 48 hours bc servers and database kept crashing. We realized we weren’t the experts and needed to hire one. We went over to Michael Seibel for advice who smiled and told us that in the early days at SocialCam (Twitch) experts thought the streaming video problem was impossible. The answer wasn’t hiring an expert, but hiring someone young, capable and naïve enough to give it an earnest try. So we opted to just figure it out ourselves. 3. Messages in Pizza Boxes. Startups win through incredible customer service, then through product, not the other way around. Seibel told us how SocialCam’s streaming infrastructure went down while a key teammate was unreachable off-grid in a Tahoe cabin for the weekend. Normal people would have waited until Monday. Not Michael. He called a local pizza delivery place and asked the delivery person to send a large pizza with an urgent message in the box to the cabin. Their infrastructure was back up in hours. 4. The Twinkle can matter more than the TAM. Ambition matters just as much as practicality. Before demo day, we were struggling with the end of our pitch. We knew the value of our product, and had a fanatical and fast-growing user base, but the market size we calculated either seemed so ridiculously big that it was not plausible, or so narrow that it was equally silly. Paul Graham and Geoff Ralston sat with us and showed that us that if we can really pull it off at scale, it would be bigger than Google. PG suggested not talking about market size, but just making sure people could see the twinkle in our eyes when we talked about what you might be able to do with a structured copy of the internet that’s larger than Google’s. 5. You’re always at the Origin. Our demo day was successful beyond our wildest beliefs. Afterwards, Geoff drew a chart for us on a whiteboard. It was a hockey stick. He asked us where we thought we were. It was a rhetorical question. He said we were at the origin. Sam doubled down. When he invested in Kimono, he gave us a Zimbabwean Trillion dollar note (the result of extreme hyperinflation in Zimbabwe), as a cautionary reminder that the fundraising and valuation mean nothing. We have channeled this into our culture Arena with our ritual around neon shoelaces and a pair of neon track spikes hanging on the wall to remind us that we’re at the Olympic starting line, but we don’t have any medals yet. 6. High bandwidth discussions with users don’t happen over email. The “Collison installation” is part of YC lore. John Collison told us that talking to users live was essential because email and chat conversations were just not enough. We did 100s of Skype conversations with Kimono users + one power user Alex Chung, who I met this way, has become a close friend and even attended my wedding in India last year!

Pratap Ranade

142,909 views • 2 years ago